2014 rendering of one of the proposed park plans – (Lambertville Environmental Commission Facebook page)
Lambertville Mayor David DelVecchio and City Council unanimously approved Tuesday night Ordinance 20-2016 to fund the first development phase of “North Union Street Park.”
The planned green space will be located on the currently vacant land parcel behind the CVS Pharmacy at 299 N. Main St. near Cherry Street.
Work on the lot is to occur in three phases, and this part will be supported with money from the city’s open space fund at a cost of $190,000. The area, in the northern part of Lambertville, is low-lying and has flooding issues, mainly from the nearby Alexauken Creek.
Mayor DelVecchio and other members from city council had multiple meetings with residents and business owners near the planned North Union Street Park before the vote on Tuesday. “When we told residents that these plans wouldn’t exacerbate the flooding situation, but instead, would actually improve conditions, we slowly built a consensus,” said DelVecchio.
City Engineer Krista Heinrich explained that phase one of development will include planting three rain gardens around the perimeter of the space, with two located near the sidewalks of North Union and Cherry streets, and the third would be closer to the CVS building.
“We’ll also be removing and replacing the sidewalk, making it more pedestrian friendly, then plant some street trees around the perimeter before we move onto the park proper,” said Heinrich.
“Phase one is where there was consensus between what the people wanted and what the neighborhood found acceptable. This was the easiest part,” DelVecchio remarked.
When asked what local residents could do at this point to become more involved in the park’s design concept, the mayor indicated that the city’s priority, for now, is phase one, which should be finished before this winter.
Chess/checkers tables. Shade trees. Water feature. Bocce court. 🙂 Go ‘ville!
Of course there should be some public art, a sculpture and a mural of a more modernist nature as we have plenty of traditional works already. I would be interested in this commisioned job.
A fountain would be nice or some kind of water feature.
I am so proud of you. You get an A on this sentence.