Around Town

Pop-up parklet and parking problems highlight Lambertville work session

A handful of Lambertville businesses will be hosting a parklet starting in May, it was announced at the March 5 work session of Lambertville’s city council at the Philip L. Pittore Justice Center.

Broadmoor, Lambertville Trading Company, Owowcow, More Than Q and a space to be shared by La Chocolate Box and Savour will host the rotating parklet for a month each until the end of September.

This “assembly seating” area will be open to the public during normal city park hours and can be utilized by the restaurants during evening hours for additional seating and table service. Mayor Julia Fahl and Councilperson Julia Taylor emphasized the increased economic development opportunities through this pilot program. An illustration, designed by Michael Burns Architects, can be seen here.

After hearing public concerns last month on issues at the public works convenience center, Fahl noted that the city would be discontinuing drop-off service at the yard for metal, large wood, plastics, cans, glass and bulk recycling, but would continue to collect brush and leaves at the location twice a month. The updated days and operating hours for the public works center are now every third Wednesday of each month, 3 – 5 p.m. and every first Saturday of each month, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. City Clerk Cindy Ege defined “brush” as small branches, less than four inches in diameter, that could easily go through a standard wood chipper. Curbside recycling is unaffected by these changes.

During the First Reading portion of the meeting, the mayor brought up Verizon’s desire to put more 5G boxes on many of the utility poles that both they and (to a lesser degree) JCP&L own around the city as part of their smart cities initiative.

Resident Chris Plummer, questioned the microwave health effects on people from 5G boxes “blanketing the city.” The mayor responded that she would be happy to see any information Plummer had on this topic and countered that this initiative might provide some competition with Comcast, and said she would inquire with someone who could speak to his concern.

Finally, conversation began on a public request for metered parking on York Street in between Clinton and North Union streets. There has been apparent increased parking there by store owners as well as shoppers avoiding business district parking, but the street also gets busy because of post office traffic.

Councilperson Elaine Warner questioned whether the area could become zoned for compact cars, instead of meters. One resident of nearby Delavan Street cited the closure of nearby ACDelco Auto Parts, and wondered how that might further impact parking. Fahl said “we’re trying to open up this conversation,” and agreed to continue the public discussion on this topic.

In other business, the city did not receive any qualified applicants for the special class III officer for LPS, and will work to fill the position by the new school year.

Longtime resident Robert Pierman was honored for his 25 years of service on the parks and recreation commission.

UPDATE: This article was updated with the correct Wednesday hours, and brush as inches in diameter and not length of feet.

About the author

Steve Chernoski

Steve Chernoski is a writer, film director and teacher who lives in Lambertville. Here's his website: http://stevechernoski.com.

2 Comments

  • Per the Lambertville website, brush collection hours at the public works yard are 9am-12pm on first Saturdays and 3pm-5pm on third Wednesdays (not 5pm-7pm as listed here). May be updating the article to note this for local residents who may otherwise be confused.

  • It is good that the parking problem in Lambertville was considered; we residents know full well. Store owners need parking, folks visiting and shopping and dining do as well. It’s a serious problem that needs serious consideration.

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