Members of Princeton Masonic Lodge No. 1436 present the Community Builder Award Monday, Jan. 27, to Local 5155 of the Professional Firefighters of Princeton.  Bob Wieland/Princeton Herald 

Princeton City Councilmembers divided over whether the moratorium on new residential construction should apply to a homeowner wanting to subdivide a half-area lot.

The request involving 1309 McKinney Avenue was the first time council had been asked to waive the restrictions imposed last September for 120 days and renewed this month for 180 days.

“I think if we approve this, we’re opening Pandora’s box, and we’re just going to have a line of people out the door coming up asking for waivers,” Councilmember Ryan Gerfers said at the Monday, Jan. 27, meeting. “At that point we’re going to have to pick and choose and be the bad guy of, yes, we’re going to approve you, but no, sorry, we’re not going to approve you. And I think that’s just an avenue, just my personal belief that we do not need to go down. I think we passed the moratorium for a reason, and I think we stick to it.”

Assistant City Attorney Grant Lowry said the city should expect more waiver requests as time goes on.

“But just because you approve one doesn’t mean you have to approve the next,” Lowry said. “You look at them on a case-by-case basis, and by law and by your ordinance, the burden is on the applicant to establish it’s not going to have a drastic impact on your infrastructure that … it’s in general compliance with the neighboring properties.”

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