LHS plans talks tabled

The timing isn’t right to discuss what to do with the old Lambertville High School and the land surrounding it because the city doesn’t yet have a redevelopment plan for the site.

By: Linda Seida
   LAMBERTVILLE — Timing, as they say, is everything.
   Because the timing isn’t quite right, a plan to discuss specific ideas for future uses of the old Lambertville High School and surrounding acreage had a tough time taking off last week, according to Mayor David Del Vecchio.
   "We were too early in the process," Mayor Del Vecchio said. "It really wasn’t meaningful. We kind of had people commenting on nothing."
   The discussion, held during a Planning Board meeting Dec. 6, couldn’t get specific because the city has not yet put in place a redevelopment plan for the site, Mayor Del Vecchio said.
   "When we get something more, we will talk to the neighborhood first," said Mayor Del Vecchio, a member of the board. "We’ve always done that."
   The mayor said he could not offer a possible time frame for moving ahead with the formation of a redevelopment plan. He said a subcommittee of the board is working on it. He referred the question to Chairman Timothy Korzun, who did not return a call seeking comment.
   The city already has made improvements to other parts of Connaught Hill, and officials are moving forward with other steps.
   In June 2003, the City Council approved an ordinance calling for the redevelopment of other acreage there.
   A small park on Hancock Street is in the works now. Previously, the city undertook a cleanup of discarded tires, the removal of abandoned vehicles and the improvement of roads and drainage. Also, Habitat for Humanity constructed several new affordable houses on the hill.
   The site of the old, abandoned high school and approximately 17 adjacent acres presents a unique set of challenges for the city.
   Mayor Del Vecchio and Mr. Korzun both said previously they would like to see some aspect of the building’s history preserved. But the structure is only a shell of its former glory. The dignified red brick school is literally falling apart in the wake of two fires, time and neglect.
   Also in need of a plan for redevelopment, the land adjacent to the school sits east of Route 179 and behind Hancock Street where the high school’s ball field formerly was located.
   The school educated generations of Lambertville’s children. It was built in 1854 and remodeled in 1926. The first fire struck in 1955, followed by another in 1992. At one time, light manufacturing operated there.