Plan to have bed and breakfast at historic home contested
By: Cynthia Williamson
LAMBERTVILLE – A hearing on a contested plan to create a bed and breakfast in a historic home at 111 N. Union St. will continue Jan. 25 before the Board of Adjustment.
The hearing for owners Richard and Mary Freedman will begin at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall.
Neighbors have testified they fear such a use will bring too much traffic and and annoying lighting and that renovations would encourage later owners to house commercial uses in the home.
When the Freedmans purchased the house in 1998, a bed and breakfast was not permitted in the residential neighborhood. The zoning ordinance was amended last year, allowing the "conditional use" of a bed and breakfast in the R-2 zone or Downtown Residential District.
Residents Ann and George Hackl are opposed to the bed and breakfast and have hired an attorney. The couple’s property at 2 Jefferson St. abuts the rear of the Freedmans’ property, and they are concerned about the impact of the parking lot and lighting.
The Freedmans had gotten approval from Mrs. Hackl for a fence they propose installing between the properties to buffer the parking lot. But Mrs. Hackl said she withdrew support for the bed and breakfast after "realizing the impact this application" would have on her property.
If the application is approved, a distance of several feet would separate the Hackls’ house from the fence, said the couple’s attorney, Steven Morland.
And Clinton Street resident John Beyea said "internal modifications" the applicants are proposing could make it easier to "slide into a different business."
Resident Ruth Ann Holmes expressed concern about lighting and what impact it would have on the character of the residential neighborhood.
"We already have a gallery lighting up one end of the block," she said, referring to Reinboth and Co. at 121 N. Union St. "They say it doesn’t look commercial, but it looks commercial."
The Freedmans originally proposed eight guest rooms but filed a new application in November for six guest rooms, the maximum permitted under the zoning ordinance. The couple plans to carve out some living space for themselves on the first floor of the 5,500-square-foot house on the corner of North Union and Jefferson streets.
The bed-and-breakfast use also is subject to seven criteria, according to the ordinance, including provisions for one off-street parking space for each guest room.
The off-street parking may be provided off-site provided the location is within 600 feet of the site. But the couple is proposing to build a gravel parking lot to accommodate six vehicles on the south side of the property facing Jefferson Street.
They are proposing to use an old carriage house at the rear of the property in which to park two vehicles but would – reluctantly – raze the historic outbuilding if it is deemed the structure cannot be used to meet parking requirements. They plan to transplant a mature holly tree elsewhere on the property to make way for the parking lot.
The couple has an arrangement to rent two parking spaces for their own vehicles at another location close to the proposed bed and breakfast.
The applicants also are seeking front yard, side yard and rear yard setback variances for the parking lot, fence and small shed they plan to construct next to the barn.
The applicants also are seeking approval to construct a fire escape from the third floor at the rear of the structure and permission for a 2-foot by 2-foot sign on the front porch.
"Who would have thought it would take this kind of effort to have a bed and breakfast in Lambertville?" said the Freedmans’ attorney, Larry Wohl of Lambertville.
The couple occupies the first floor and rents an apartment on the second floor. The third floor of the home is not used.
The property, known as the Presbyterian Manse, was on the Lambertville Historical Society’s 1999 house tour.
The Federal-style brick house was built circa 1884 by William and Sarah Johnson. It later was purchased by Myra and Martin Coryell. Mr. Coryell was a second cousin of Emanuel Coryell, who operated Coryell’s Ferry, the original name used to describe the early Lambertville and New Hope settlements.
A granddaughter of the Coryells, Camille Erisman Bryan, also lived in the house. She bequeathed a 1843 Coryell Friendship quilt to the Hunterdon County Historic Society.
The blanket disappeared for many years but resurfaced when a Pipersville, Pa., antiques gallery owner, Richard Stuart, purchased it at a public auction in Philadelphia. He sold it to the Lambertville Historical Society, which has it on display at the Marshall House on Bridge Street.