Viewshed law hearing set

By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
   STOCKTON — The Borough Council will hold a public hearing Nov. 10 to discuss modified regulations intended to protect the town’s scenic view.
   The borough had introduced a viewshed ordinance last month, but the council took no action on it.
   The new ordinance that was introduced Oct. 13 is a little more comprehensive, adding about half a dozen properties to the area that would be overseen by the ordinance, according to Councilman Jeffrey Casaletto, who also serves on the town’s Planning Board.
   ”On the back side of Stockton, the line was moved to capture a few more lots,” Mr. Casaletto said.
   The change is intended to apply the proposed regulations in a more uniform manner, he said.
   The new area is on the east side of town at the top of a hill, “toward the edges of the My Ben property,” ending at Hilltop Drive near the town’s water tower, Mr. Casaletto said.
   The My Ben property, which has been renamed the Anderson tract for John Anderson, a Revolutionary War captain who once owned the land, is 63 acres of preserved land above Route 29 and adjacent to the Stockton Borough School.
   Little undeveloped land remains in Stockton. Mayor Stephen Giocondo previously said a few undeveloped lots exist on Worman Road.
   Councilman Craig Smith, an attorney, cast the lone vote against the expansion.
   ”I did not feel it was an appropriate use of municipal authority,” he said later.
   The council is expected to vote on the viewshed ordinance immediately after the public hearing.
   The regulations are a continuation of the work undertaken by the Planning Board over the past several years “to visually and physically protect the environment,” council President Michael Hagerty said. “This is a piece of that plan. It is a continuation of the things we started in the Planning Board a long time ago to keep Stockton as we know it.”
   The goal, he said, is to protect the beauty of the borough, “so when you drive across the bridge from Centre Bridge to Stockton, nothing really changes in Stockton.”
   It would prevent, for example, the change of a wooded hillside into nothing but condominium rooftops as can be seen crossing from Pennsylvania to Lambertville, he said. Such construction would have to be located higher on the hill so the trees would block them, according to Mr. Hagerty.