Lambertville is concerned the project could be vulnerable to a court challenge because it was approved by resolution, not by an ordinance.
By: Linda Seida
LAMBERTVILLE The city’s plan to redevelop Connaught Hill is vulnerable to a potential court challenge because the City Council approved the plan by resolution rather than by ordinance.
Although no challenge to Lambertville’s redevelopment plan is on the horizon at this time, officials want to make sure the plan is secure. To forestall any problem, the council last month introduced an ordinance that would take the place of the already passed resolution.
A hearing on the proposed ordinance, plus a vote by the council, is scheduled for Feb. 22 at 7:30 at the Justice Center on South Union Street.
"We’re just redoing something we already did," Mayor David Del Vecchio said.
In June 2003, the council unanimously passed the resolution authorizing the redevelopment of 13 acres, including the site of the old Lambertville High School. Officials said the Connaught Hill site is unsafe and a hazard.
The resolution named the city as redevelopment authority.
City officials learned the resolution may be open to a challenge from the attorney who acts as special counsel for the redevelopment plan.
The attorney said a redevelopment plan approved by the borough of Carteret is facing a challenge because it was passed by resolution, not by ordinance, according to Mayor Del Vecchio.
Since 2003, only two entities have come forward with building plans for Connaught Hill.
The most recent proposal was submitted last year by Don Hart of Hart Enterprises of Lambertville. The proposal calls for the construction of 11 single-family houses, although no plans have been submitted yet.
The first proposal was submitted by the Raritan Valley Habitat for Humanity in December 2003. The organization, which makes housing available for working, low-income families, plans to build four new houses.
Work cannot begin on the projects until the status of lot titles is sorted out, something the special counsel has called "really unclear" and a "time-intensive" process.
Connaught Hill became ripe for redevelopment because of poor conditions on the hill. Although only one of numerous conditions laid out by the state are necessary for a municipal government to move forward with a redevelopment plan, the site meets six requirements.
The criteria, four of which pertain to the ruins of the old Lambertville High School building, specify areas of the building are unsafe, substandard and dilapidated; the building was once in use as an industrial or manufacturing site; the building is detrimental to safety; the site exceeds 5 acres; fire has destroyed some of it; the majority of the site is vacant, wooded and unimproved, and the lack of public infrastructure makes it unlikely to be developed by private funds, due to its location and topography; and the land currently is nonproductive and stagnant.
The building that housed the old Lambertville High School was once used for light manufacturing. Built in 1854, the brick structure suffered fire twice, first in 1955 and again in 1992.

