City Announces Weekend Plans to Address Anticipated Tourism Increase

Anticipating an influx of visitors and tourism this weekend, the City is taking the following actions outlined in this post to help ensure our businesses can take advantage of much needed new customers, but do so in a way that establishes safe operations that will protect them, our residents, and visitors. These actions are part of a series of policies being tested to ensure that the City and relevant stakeholders have vetted and tested plans that will allow Lambertville to have safe summer months in our downtown.
Some of these actions have been put in place since the beginning of May, and some have been created partly from feedback from the ongoing roundtable discussions with businesses, as well as from feedback from other municipalities. These are worked on with stakeholders such as our business community, the Chamber, New Hope, Hunterdon County, State Park Services, and others.

This weekend, the City is: 

  1. Doubling the number of signs in the downtown with precautionary messages, and adding new content to help reinforce the importance of key points (such as proper mask usage). You can view (and print in your business) any of the signs, which are available here. 
  2. Creating extra space for pedestrians to be able to circulate, especially in narrow-sidewalk areas, by blocking off parking on portions of Bridge Street and Kline’s Court, such as during Shadfest. Here is a map of which areas are for pedestrian circulation rather than parking. Doing this allows for a greater number of people to be in the downtown, as mandatory social distancing guidelines would otherwise limit the number of people who can visit or be in Lambertville’s narrow sidewalks at any given time. 
  3. Based on feedback the City received from business owners, we are also creating several free curbside pickup areas in sections of the downtown where metered parking is being removed and replaced with pedestrian space. That map is available here.
  4. Requesting that the existing sign trailer at the Towpath be moved to a better location for incoming visitors to see, and with more appropriate messaging for visitors reminding them following all posted guidelines. 
  5. Continued law enforcement presence from Lambertville police, as well as requests to outside agencies for additional assistance. 

Our aim is that if conditions permit “re-opening” of our downtown, we are able to do so in a way that brings more customers to our beloved local business in a way that keeps them, and everyone, safe. The only way to do that is to try different ideas, solicit feedback from those impacted, and keep modifying until we find solutions that work the best way possible - this is new territory for all involved.

Additional information is below:
We will continue to post updates as we move forward into the summer months, and we hope that people take some time to safely enjoy the nice weather this weekend.