City Council Meeting: May 1, 2025
The Lambertville City Council met on May 1, 2025 at 7pm.
The meeting began with the 2025 budget. There were no public comments.
The budget was sent to the state. The state recommended some changes, and approved some budget amendments. For example, code enforcement was under construction, so $9,000 moved from one line item to another. The zoning officer salary got moved from one line item to another. Uniform fire safety moved to the fire department. The changes were just about moving things from one category to another. It did not alter the tax rate.
By law, Cindy had to read the entire list of changes, which outlined what amount came from what section, and where it went in the budget.
Everyone listened until it was complete.
The Mayor asked for a motion to adopt, and the motion carried. They took roll call for approving the amended budget.
The Mayor thanked the finance team for working all year on the budget.
Public Comments
Jeff from Wilson Street said we are at a crossroads for our future.
“We are in the middle of a battle to maintain the character of our town. We are in a battle for clean water and safe water,” he said.
“We have to get DEP in here... this is something that is wrong.”
“Two hundred and fifty years ago the people in this neighborhood, in this community, fought a hardscrabble grassroots battle against the British and the other invaders,” Jeff explained.
“Today those invaders are the land speculators, and the big development corporations, and the hospitality corporations.”
Residents applauded at the end of Jeff’s comments.
The Mayor reminded folks not to clap.
Paul from Quarry Street said nobody is paying attention to the speed slow down on Route 29.
“Is there a plan to educate people first? Can we get a radar sign to draw our attention to it? Can we do something proactively to let people know?” he asked.
The Mayor said they could put the visual flashing sign back up. The Mayor said he feels the slow down to 25 is significantly slower. He said the police have been mindful and are working to have a presence on South 29. He said he’ll talk to Lieutenant Brown to see if they can put up the sign.
Susan, a nearby resident, agreed about the traffic. She said she moved to Lambertville when she was 22, and is turning 67 soon. She moved here because she loved Lambertville. She still loves it, but she’s so concerned about the direction it’s going. She’s not anti-development. She supports smart growth, but she’s vehemently against the development on the hill. She feels it’s not the best place for affordable housing, and doesn’t feel it’s right to segregate people there. She liked that Lambertville used to have all kinds of people, but now it’s becoming unaffordable and she’s not happy with the wedding venue. She’s shocked at how difficult it feels to stop these things.
The Mayor said to come to meeting on May 8th. He stressed that it is not a city meeting, although it will be held in the Pittore Center.
“It’s not a city meeting,” he said. “It’s just an informal conversation.”
The meeting happens at 7pm on Thursday, May 8th at the Pittore Center.
Judy from North Union wanted to add to what Jeff said. She said people indicated their support by clapping.
“Comments at these meetings are out there, but we don’t know what’s next. I know some things, but not how we got here,” she said.
She felt that there is not a willingness to say we don’t want the growth on the hill.
“Many people are struggling against this, and many good points are being made. It really feels like we’re getting further apart from council. Tell us what we need to do to get on the same page. I understand the issue with affordable housing, but none of us are seeing how strongly this town feels about affordable housing, just not on the hill.”
The Mayor said that the city attorney advised them not comment.
“All I can tell you is that the council hears you, and we are working on many fronts to make the city a better place,” he said.
Councilwoman Kominsky said, “We can talk about some time frames. We are asking DEP about their report so that we know what is happening. We’ve asked the department for a report so we can share it.”
She encouraged people to attend the May 8the information meeting about Coryell Street development.
The Mayor said he has spoken to the DEP Commissioner this week, and he expects something to come to the city in the coming week.
“There are a lot of things relevant to potential litigation we cannot comment on,” he said.
Michelle from Church Street, who also owns property on York Street, wanted the general public to be aware of what’s happening. She said the playground at the Academy was just for Academy students, but now it has a grand opening on Saturday, May 3, and that the playground will have public access.
“None of the folks submitted documentation for construction reviews,” she said.
“Unfortunately I did ask for a temporary stop work order so that the city could give it proper consideration for safety and other reasons, and I was told that there was no applicable vehicle for stopping construction. Although we are all aware of smaller projects that have been stopped for lesser issues in the past temporarily... Retroactive applications will be required for zoning for impervious surfaces, but that's going to be allowed retroactively since the park will open without permits or inspections this Saturday.”
The Mayor said the work went through the construction code official, who has jurisdiction to make decisions based on local zoning, and construction code ordinance. He said the files are available through OCRA.
John asked if the city has inquired about the undocumented dump on Coryell and Grand.
He also asked, “The developer for the Finkles site, what kind of money do they have to put into the affordable housing fund?”
John was also disappointed that 91 people turned in letters to the court that the city hadn’t addressed with the court.
They Mayor said they will not comment on the court case, and that the Coryell development is not required to pay into the affordable housing fund, because it’s commercial development.
Denise from on Cottage Hill was concerned that we are sitting on a ticking time bomb.
“Residents have tested positive for PFAS. Living in a home built in 1874 with a shallow well—we need to test. I just wanted to make everyone aware that we too are concerned. How do we get in the loop?” she asked.
The Mayor said DEP has identified 20 properties on Cottage Hill that they will be testing. Those who are chosen will be notified. DEP will do the testing.
He said anyone with well water test results that they want to share is appreciated. The city gives the information to the county and state. They are starting a conversation about public water.
Lisa from Quarry Street asked about the fallen tree trunks along the road.
“Will those be cleaned up?” she asked. “One fell the other day...”
The Mayor said yes, that area has been problematic due to the sheer hill. He said he needs to take a look at it to see if our crew can do it or if they have to hire an arborist. He committed to going there on Monday to check it out.
Public comments closed.
Resolution 88-2025 was about salary and wages for officials and employees for the city of Lambertville. They adopted it and it carried unanimously.
Announcements
The Affordable Housing Committee is working towards the Fair Share plan due at the end of June. They will introduce it next meeting. The city needs thirty-nine units total, but they only need ten right now. They have the Heritage Apartment Building, the Library property, and an overlay will soon be applied to get the last six.
“We are actively working on an MOU for Habitat for Humanity and hope to move forward for six houses on Holcomb Park,” the Mayor said. They should have information and a resolution next meeting.
Village Apartments
The Mayor said he talked to Village Apartments. A contract has been signed with a developer and a builder. The city will receive plans in coming weeks and the Council will review the plans in a closed session. There was a previous developer in contract, but now there is a new one.
Capital Bond Ordinance
Police station improvements: about $12,000 for cameras, monitors, alarms, and paint. The police station was last painted 15 years ago. Exterior lighting and body worn cameras will cost approximately $60,000.
The city needs a new pickup truck. A new recycling truck is also needed. It costs around $250,000.
$75,000 have been allotted for Justice Center improvements for the audio and visual systems.
The city has to map the stormwater system.
“We have to map all the pipes that DPW will undertake, and that has to go to an engineer,” said the Mayor.
“The state also requires all that 276 storm drains need to be retrofitted. They cost $500-1,000 each. The numbers will be ready in a week or so.”
The HPC wants $10,000 to create large format book containing significant historic sites in Lambertville.
$40,000 have been allotted to plant trees in the Central Business District.
There is some road work and smaller projects too.
The Mayor said he feels we won’t need this kind of bonding in the coming years.
Councilman Stegman asked about Village Apartments.
“When do you foresee the public getting this information for review? Is there a time frame or do we wait for the two plans and then take action?”
The Mayor said it depends on Council, but he figures it should happen fairly quickly. It’s possible that the news could reach the public by June or July. It will not have an impact on fourth round Fair Share Housing.
Councilwoman Kominsky shared what happened at the case management conference. The judge is going to set up a schedule for oral arguments. No case was presented.
“We are waiting for this case to evolve,” she said.
The Mayor asked the Council if they had questions about funding for the book and trees.
Councilwoman Kominsky said she wants the HPC to take photos of Coryell Street before it changes.
“We are concerned with the historic integrity of the area,” she said.
“There’s a great picture of the Strand on the Historical Society and photo the coal yard before it was Finkles. It’s important stuff for us to savor before we go into the next phase.”
The Mayor said he has some old photos of the area too.
He also said that Council had a chance to look at proposed improvements in CBD. Improvements include the planters by the parking lot. There were two designs. One had a bike rack another had a small flower garden. The Flower garden was cheaper and in budget.
Councilwoman Kominsky asked if it’s only for the Martinez lot. She said people ask her about the tree at the bank, because it’s dead. The Mayor said he wants Lester to cut it down and plant a new one.
“It was our holiday tree,” someone protested.
Cindy said we have an easement, and that Wachovia owns the land and they haven’t been community friendly.
“The answer is the tree is getting cut down,” said the Mayor, and he joked that he was willing to go out on a political limb to make that decision.
The Mayor will put CBD improvements out to bid.
Cottage Hill Public Water
The city had some discussion about public water back around 2020. The documents generated at the time were by Suez Water, which broke the area into quadrants and estimated the costs of bringing public water to the community on the hill.
Now Veolia is happy to have the conversation. They said the estimates from the Suez proposals would have to be increased by 30-35% per household. The more homes that participate, the lower the cost. The costs at the time didn’t include capping wells. It was just for running water mains. The Mayor said he is happy to discuss it, and he will need help from residents, Council, and professionals. The first step was to find out how many residents want to proceed.
Councilman Stegman asked if Veolia will update the figures.
The Mayor said yes, the numbers they had were a general idea from a while ago. He said it’s a complicated question and process, and he’d like to have a meeting with residents to see how many people want to be involved.
Tom from Douglas Street said he thinks it goes well beyond just who is interested, that there are a ton of different questions, but we owe it to residents. He volunteered to get information out.
The Mayor was willing to engage and ask these questions for people now, and for people in the future.
Denise said when she canvassed the neighborhood, about two dozen people wanted to know more information. There are about 90 homes on the hill and they anticipate more people will want to know about it.
Cindy said they were ready to do this in 2020, but then Ida hit. They want to set up another meeting with Zoom access so that people with kids can attend.
The Mayor asked to try to have the meeting set up by late June.
Councilman Stegman mentioned that when they ran gas lines on the hill, it was his understanding that Elizabethtown ran the trunk lines at no cost, but that residents paid from the street to the house. Elizabethtown also offered no-interest loans to help folks do that.
“Who regulates that, is it BPU?” Stegman asked.
The Mayor said, “Yes, there is a formula.”
Cindy said if you want it you have to pay if you’re a single house, but if enough people participate it decreases the amount you pay.
The Mayor said there is a formula.
Cindy said there are additional costs to consider, because you have to cap your well. She said there’s a lot that goes into water that doesn’t go into gas.
Someone who lives on the hill asked if the city is looking into if the spill fund is available to greater municipalities, or if the city is looking for alternative funding to help residents.
The Mayor said they have talked about the spill fund, but it is too premature to talk about it publicly.
The Mayor said he doesn’t want anyone to miss out because they can’t make a meeting, so they will put a mechanism in place to make the meeting accessible.
Announcements
There will be a mobile unit out on May 19 at 9am so people can get a real ID.
Sparkle week is happening.
The Pride Parade is Saturday, May 17 at 10:30am.
The Memorial Day parade is on Memorial Day starts North Union and Cherry beginning at 9am.
Public Comments
Jeff confirmed that commercial developments do not have to pay into the affordable housing fund. He didn’t know that. He also mentioned that Matt Arco, who lived on Franklin Street, passed away. He was 39, a professional journalist, and active with the ambulance squad.
The Mayor said Matt was the second, recent and untimely loss.
Judy said, “I’d like to have a standing request. If any information is received, can it just go up online? Just have it be a standard rather than having to ask. Please just post anything when you get it. Thank you.”
The Mayor said they can look at setting up a billboard on the city website.
Lindsey said they are working on it.
“Make it prominent so people don’t have to drill for it,” Councilwoman Lambert added.
Public comments closed.
The meeting adjourned.
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