PRINCETON: Council to recommend construction code improvements to governor

Princeton officials plan to tell the Christie administration how the state construction code can be improved in the wake of a fire at an AvalonBay apartment complex, the same company planning to build a development on Witherspoon Street.

Mayor Liz Lempert said at Tuesdays Princeton Council meeting that the administration is reviewing the code and seeking input from municipalities. The comment period ends March 1, she said.

She, Councilwomen Jenny Crumiller and Jo S. Butler and municipal staff will develop recommendations for the full council to consider at its meeting Feb.24 and then forward them to the state Department of Community Affairs.

Mayor Lempert has urged the administration to review the code before the DCA considers AvalonBays construction plans for a 280-unit development at the former Princeton Hospital. She has called for large multi-family buildings to have sprinklers throughout and concrete dividing walls.

An accidental fire broke out Jan.21 at an AvalonBay apartment complex in Edgewater, Bergen County. More than 500 people were left homeless by a blaze that tore through an apartment building.

Theyre still investigating exactly what happened with the fire there, and they cant be 100 percent sure that building was or was not built to code, Mayor Lempert said.

Municipal emergency management director Robert Gregory, in a response to a question from Ms. Crumiller, said he favored a change in regulations to require sprinklers in attics. He said that for most light-weight construction, there are sprinklers in egress ways and apartments.

Really what the sprinklers are for in that situation is life safety, he said.

Town engineer Robert V. Kiser, who has been monitoring the demolition, told council that the seven-story building on the site was brought down to grade level. Crews continue to work on the site.

Earlier in the meeting, Mayor Lempert briefed council on a phone conversation she had on Monday with AvalonBay Vice President Jon Vogel.

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PRINCETON: Council to recommend construction code improvements to governor