LAMBERTVILLE: Historic district enlarged

By John Tredrea, Special Writer
An ordinance that brings two of the city’s commercial zones into Lambertville’s historic district was adopted by the City Council at its Nov. 17 meeting. 


Properties in the historic district need the permission of the city’s historic preservation commission to make changes to the exterior visible from the public right-of-way.

The C2 and C3 commercial zones were brought into the historic district, said Stewart Palilonis, who chairs the historic sites commission.
The C2 zone is located in the Cherry Street, Bridge Street and state Route 29 areas of the city. The C3 zone is in the Union Street area.
Mr. Palilonis said the city’s historic district includes the downtown Central Business District, which includes Bridge Street from Main Street to the south side of York Street. He said that, like the Planning Board, the historic sites commission favors the proposed expansion of the historic district to include the C2 and C3 zones "in order to preserve the integrity of the historic buildings, such as the Spoke Factory and Canal Studios, that are there."
Property owners in the C2 and C3 zones are now subject to the same regulations as owners in the Central Business District.
"We only regulate the exterior of the building, and only the portion of the building that is visible from the public right of way," Mr. Palilonis said. "We don’t regulate the color of the paint on the building. The only exception to that is that you can’t paint a non-wood portion of the building without the permission of the historic sites commission."

Carried until the council’s Dec. 15 meeting was a public hearing and adoption vote on a proposed ordinance that creates a maximum of five parking spaces, for individual parking, in the city’s North Union Street parking lot.  The fee for using one of the spaces is $45 per month.