Patrons of the Spring Street Garage will have some changes to adjust to in coming months. Parking fees at the municipal lot will be raised to prices yet to be determined and go into effect at the beginning of next year. In addition, the two hours of free parking traditionally given to users of Princeton Public Library will be done away with.

There is a silver lining: The half-hour of free parking in the lot will be upgraded to a full hour, for everyone. And during the week of September 14, when new equipment is to be installed at the two entrances to the garage, parking will be free, it was announced at Monday night’s meeting of Princeton Council.

News about parking was among several topics covered at the meeting. The hiring of consultants on affordable housing, the Princeton Merchants Association’s campaign to reduce the use of plastic bags, and enforcement of rules on brush removal were among the other items on the agenda.

The parking gates at the garage, which is located behind the library, have long been problematic. The new equipment will be software-driven rather than hardware-driven, according to Bob Hough, Princeton’s infrastructure and operations director. The library will no longer be involved in validating parking tickets.

“We want to move away from that,” he said. “Since the garage was built, a decade ago, people have been stopping at the desk for validation even if they were not using the library. A lot of people walk in and out to validate a ticket, and they never take out a book,” he added. “They just come in to punch a ticket. We are losing money in that regard.”

A presentation about fee adjustments in the garage will likely be made at the next meeting of Council on August 10.

Affordable Housing

The Council voted unanimously to hire two affordable housing consultants and plans to hire a third next year. Maser Consulting will be paid $10,500 to assess vacant land in town and determine whether adjustments are needed for the number of affordable units to be built. Princeton is required to build 1,000 new affordable units by 2025.

The other consultant is Robert Burchell of Rutgers University, who will be paid $231 an hour to arrive at a figure of affordable units the town should have to build. Mr. Burchell was involved in coming up with affordable housing numbers released by the State of New Jersey last year. Those figures, since revised, included a zero obligation for Princeton. At the meeting last night and at a Council meeting last month, some advocates for affordable housing expressed opposition to the hiring of Mr. Burchell, fearing he will recommend a figure that is too low for the number of units the town should be required to provide.

The town’s administrator Marc Dashield said a third consultant will analyze the data provided by the other two consultants and the Fair Share Housing Center, and would come up with an independent number. Council president Bernie Miller defended the idea of hiring the three consultants, pointing out that affordable housing is the most important issue the town will wrestle with this year and probably next year. “We have to come up with a number and be prepared to defend that number as a realizable number in front of the court,” he said. “That’s why we’re taking a multi-pronged approach.”

Plastic Bags

Announced late last week, the Princeton Merchants Association’s campaign to reduce the use of plastic bags was given a formal presentation at the meeting. The goal is to encourage the reduction, reuse, and recycling of single-use plastic bags.

Merchants are being encouraged to ask customers if they need a bag, and shoppers will be encouraged to bring their own bags. Bins will be placed throughout town for residents and businesses to collect and recycle plastic bags.

John Marshall, president of the Princeton Merchants Association, and Diane Landis, executive director of Sustainable Princeton, made a presentation about the program. Current participants include McCaffrey’s Food Market, the Princeton University Store, the Whole Earth Center, Craft Cleaners, Sustainable Princeton, the Princeton Senior Resource Center, and the town of Princeton.

Public collection and recycling of the bags is currently in place at McCaffrey’s and the Princeton University Store. As part of the new campaign, new containers will be placed at different locations around town. These containers will allow recycling not only of plastic grocery bags, but also newspaper and bread bags, food storage plastic bags, dry cleaning bags, and plastic wrap. McCaffrey’s will soon be selling BagSavR receptacles to encourage shoppers to collect plastics, and then bring them to any local collection container.

“This has been a wonderful collaborative effort that I hope you’ll see more of in the future,” Ms. Landis said.

Brush Collection

Residents who have not responded to notices informing them that piles of leaves and brush left too far into the roadway must be removed will be subject to summons if they do not take appropriate action, Mr. Hough told Council. Princeton has been divided into five sections for collection of brush, log, loose and bagged leaf collection. Brush cannot be left in the municipal right-of-way.

Seventy-five percent of the households in violation have removed the materials. In sections one and two, the Department of Public Works handed out more than 200 violation notices, Mr. Hough said. In three weeks since, 80 percent of the piles have been cleared. “As of 3 p.m. today, there are 20 left,” he said. “If they don’t remove [the piles] within 72 hours, we’ll move to an enforcement issue.”

For a schedule of upcoming collections, residents can visit the town’s website at www.princetonnj.gov or call (609) 497-7639.