The "golden" years may be lived productively and happily – or they may be a nightmare for all concerned.
There is an appalling lack of housing for senior citizens who need help because of health or finances.
Too often, society turns its back on those who have worked all their lives – some just to survive, others to build a future only to have it taken away later in life as their health declines.
Lambertville has two senior citizen apartment complexes – Hibernia and South Hunterdon. But there is such a demand for more units like these from city residents as well as those in the surrounding areas of West Amwell and Stockton.
That’s why we feel Donald Hart’s plan to provide senior and assisted living housing deserves all the support it can get. But it must be affordable; those who have the money don’t need lower rents and can afford the more expensive assisted living units.
Already, Mr. Hart has been asked to add names to a non-existent waiting list for the units. The waiting lists at Hibernia and South Hunterdon are at least five years.
One step has been taken. Lambertville and West Amwell have agreed to adjust boundary lines for the former Albert Burd property Mr. Hart purchased along Route 518.
A house and property now lies totally in West Amwell; a sectioned-off five-acre tract is within city boundaries. This five-acre tract is where Mr. Hart wants to construct the senior-citizen complex.
He’s taking it slowly, doing a feasibility study for need and location. We think he’ll find what he already knows; the demand is great.
It may take two years for this project to be completed. But it’s well worth the wait.
