NJ bill locking in zoning advances in Senate; could halt local historic designations
Community efforts to protect historic neighborhoods through historic district designation could be halted if proposed legislation is enacted.
Yesterday a NJ Senate Committee approved a controversial bill that would allow builders to lock-in the local zoning on a particular property for several years merely by filing an application for development. Taking a sledgehammer to a problem that calls for careful surgery, the measure, if enacted, could prevent a municipality from establishing a historic district if a developer – years away from a viable or realistic project – merely files an application for development in the historic area.
“This legislation discourages smart growth, undermines sound planning strategies, and is not in the best interest of the public,” said William Dressel, executive director of the League of Municipalities, in opposing the bill before the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee.
Sponsored by Sens. Jeff Van Drew (Cape May) and Ron Rice (Newark), chair and vice-chair respectively of the Senate Community & Urban Affairs Committee, the bill passed that committee on Thursday. See more information in the Star Ledger.
President’s Budget proposal abolishes Save America’s Treasures, other vital preservation funding programs
The 1722 Abel Nicholson House, Salem County, is a remarkably intact Quaker "Pattern Brick" House, a National Historic Landmark and recipient of a vital Save America's Treasures grant to help stem walter infiltration and stabilize the house. Important preservation projects like this one will not be possible if SAT grants are abolished.
Shockingly, President Obama’s budget proposal, released yesterday, eliminates entirely the Save America’s Treasures (SAT) and Preserve America grant programs and cuts the National Heritage Areas funding by 50%. These proven job-creating, economy-stimulating programs have leveraged hundreds of millions of private investment dollars and played a large part in saving more than 700 of the nation’s most important historic places. In New Jersey, Ellis Island, Thomas Edison’s Invention Factory, the Hackensack Water Works and the Abel Nicholson Study House are a few of the SAT-funded projects that have jump-started the state’s heritage tourism economy, and created skilled construction and permanent jobs.
Most oddly, the Administration’s blog states that the programs were, “… started to mark the millennium and (were) supposed to last for two years. Both programs lack rigorous performance metrics and evaluation efforts so the benefits are unclear.” The thousands of people from all over the world who visit Ellis Island each year can certainly attest to the benefits they derive from being able to visit that important historic place! And the hundreds of construction, architectural, planning and other related professionals who worked on all the SAT-funded projects in New Jersey and spent their hard earned dollars in the New Jersey economy could speak pretty eloquently about the benefits gained from the statistically insignificant (in the federal budget) but nevertheless important economic benefits of the SAT program.
Posts comments here with stories about SAT-funded projects in New Jersey, and about critical preservation projects that are planned and need funding.
It’s time to send a strong message to our Congressional delegation that this is not the time to dismantle proven economic generators like Save America’s Treasures, which protect cherished historic places that tell the nation who we are and where we came from, especially in this time of job losses and economic crisis. Join PNJ and friends in Washington D.C. for Preservation Lobby Day on March 3. E-mail info@preservationnj.org for information about how you can help lobby Congress.
"Just one 'Andrew Jackson' bill from the ATM makes you a PNJ member and partner in our vital preservation work," said new PNJ president Hon. Mary Anna Holden
Welcomed by Congressman Rush Holt, outgoing Preservation New Jersey President John D.S. Hatch and Acting HPO Administrator Dan Saunders, members and friends of PNJ gathered in the historic St. Peter the Apostle Church in downtown New Brunswick on Sat., Jan. 30 for the PNJ Annual Meeting. Congressman Holt’s call to forge ever stronger partnerships and commitments to save the important “someplaces” that make New Jersey unique set the stage for the information-packed program.
Following a summation by John Hatch of PNJ’s exciting and challenging year just ended – and a preview of the opportunities ahead – a brief business meeting of the board of directors saw election of two new board members – historic preservation consultant Margaret Newman and outgoing Director of the NJ Council on Affordable Housing Lucy Vandenberg – and new officers: President, the Hon. Mary Anna Holden, Mayor of Madison; Vice-President Larry Plevy of preservation contractors Schtiller & Plevy; Secretary David Knights of Picus Associates; and Treasurer Scot Pannepacker of accounting firm Lear & Pannepacker.
The day’s theme of sustainability, “green” rehab and adaptive use was launched with a presentation and tour of the newly opened Catholic Campus Center in the former Sisters of Charity Convent, adjacent to St. Peter’s Church. Preservation architect Annabelle Radcliffe-Trenner (Historic Building Architects) gave an overview of recent exterior restoration of the 1856 church (funded in p0art by the NJ Historic Trust). Then she set the stage for discussion of the former convent (1867) preservation and green rehab project, presented by designers Thomas Besold and David Steffihagen of Design Ideas Group architects.
Keynote speaker Jennifer Senick, Executive Director of the Rutgers Center for Green Building, spoke about the Center’s recent publication, NJ Green Home Remodeling Guidelines, on which PNJ collaborated as an Advisory Committee member. Senick also elaborated read more…
The Historic Property Revitalization Act, to make New Jersey the 31st state to offer a powerful historic rehabilitation tax credit to spur job creation and desperately needed economic growth, has been re-introduced in the 2010 New Jersey Legislature.
Lead sponsors Sen. Barbara Buono (Middlesex) and Asym. Reed Gusciora (Mercer), long champions of the Historic Property Revitalization Act (HPRA), are heading efforts to get the legislation enacted, after several years of opposition from former NJ Governors. Now, with the need for private investment, skilled jobs and community revitalization greater than ever, and a new Governor who supported HPRA during the fall election campaign, the historic tax credit legislation is poised for success!
To learn more, visit Preservation New Jersey’s “Take Action” webpage. Ask NJ Assembly members and Senators to co-sponsor the bill (S659, A1851). And get involved: join the organizations and individuals advocating for the tax credit bill. Visit the New Jersey Heritage Development Coalition and keep up to date with the progress of this important economic stimulus legislation.
by Stephanie Cherry-Farmer, PNJ Programs Director
A January 20th meeting of the Facilities Advisory Board (FAB) of the Trenton Board of Education brought out a storm of public opposition to construction of a new high school. While residents of the community immediately surrounding the school and parents of current TCHS students pounded the Schools Development Authority (SDA) and FAB representatives about the lack
The battle to save one of Trenton's most iconic landmarks got another boost of support from the community on January 20th.
of community outreach and involvement, officials were largely silent in response.
The SDA’s newest claim is that selection of a design firm (the next step they need to take in order to move this project forward) will not decide whether TCHS will be modernized or demolished, as their policy requires that the design process (after selection of a firm) encompass consideration of all options via community input, including a design charette involving the public. However, sources tell us that this input is required only AFTER the SDA makes the final decision on what they are going to build.
The public has spoken, and it’s time for the SDA and the Trenton Board of Education to listen, and answer. Both groups stated last night their intention to “continue” working with the public “as they always have.” The evidence of their claimed commitment to the community remains to be seen.
by Ron Emrich, Executive Director, Preservation New Jersey
Preservation New Jersey has submitted a nomination of the iconic Bell Labs building and its landscape to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2010 America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list. The nomination has been submitted to the Trust with broad support from the community, local, state and national organizations and distinguished Bell Labs “alumni.”
The only New Jersey building designed by renowned architect Eero Saarinen, Bell Labs (1959-1985) is a massive former research and development facility and a major work of mid-20th century modernism. The campus, laid out by landscape designer Sasaki Walker in a 472-acre pastoral setting, would become typical of mid-century corporate campus designs. As home to Bell Labs for nearly half a century, the site spurred incredible technological advancements.
The primary threat to the site is its present complete vacancy and community divisions over possible re-uses. Local political leaders have resisted serious consideration of a proposed mixed-use rehabilitation/ redevelopment proposal by a credible developer with an option to purchase the entire property. The present owner has no intention of implementing a long-term maintenance plan, and the entire two million square foot structure is empty and entering its second winter with all systems turned off. Both the building, with its small windowless offices and laboratories, and the site, which has low-density office zoning, present challenges for adaptive use and viable development. Preservation NJ named Bell Labs in its 10 Most Endangered Historic Sites in NJ list in 2007. read more…
by Stephanie Cherry-Farmer, Programs Director, Preservation New Jersey
Preservation New Jersey has just learned that Asbury Park’s BPO Elks Lodge 128, also known as the Charms Building, has been
The former BPO Elks Lodge 128/Charms Building, which stood at the intersection of Monroe and Cookman Avenues in Asbury Park until just a few weeks ago.
demolished. The Charms Building was included on PNJ’s 2009 list of the “10 Most Endangered Historic Sites in New Jersey,” announced this past May.
The building was apparently taken down between December 28, 2009 and January 1, 2010, at the City of Asbury Park’s insistence that it was a safety hazard in danger of collapse. Area newspaper The Coaster covered the demolition in their January 7 issue, but the building’s demise received minimal other press attention. According to the Coaster, several members of Elks Lodge 128, now housed in Neptune, attended read more…
by Ron Emrich, PNJ Executive Director
Weatherization is the hot “green” topic these days, and policy makers, including President Obama and many others, are touting the job creation benefits of heavily promoting installation of new energy-saving products such as new windows, and discarding the old. For us preservationists, discussion of weatherization – which we definitely want to promote – unfortunately includes having to debunk myths and undo the public’s advertising-fueled false assumptions. While former Oregon gubernatorial candidate and replacement window company executive Ron Saxton participated recently in a White House forum on “green jobs” creation, we have to work ever harder to persuade NPR, the U.S. Department of Energy and even Al Gore that actually the most economically and environmentally responsible way to weatherize a building probably includes retaining the existing windows. Good grief, there’s even an online video game promoting green buildings that starts out by awarding points for ripping out existing windows and replacing them! (Don’t play this game, BTW.)
The result of all this promotion, advertising – and bunk – is that too many older and historic buildings and their original windows are at risk, folks will waste money that they’ll never see a payback from, and landfills will just be filled even faster.
As the National Trust for Historic Preservation said recently: “Preservationists will have to continue to explain, and to demonstrate, that being “green” and stimulating the economy through job growth does not have to translate into a national policy supporting and providing incentives for the removal of windows. Preservationists have a huge stake in this discussion with a lot to gain and to lose.”
Join PNJ at our Annual Membership Meeting on Sat. Jan. 30 at St. Peter the Apostle Church in New Brunswick, for a lively discussion about these issues, featuring keynote speaker Jennifer Senick, director of the Rutgers Center for Green Building. More info here >>
State Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex) is calling for a state-sponsored effort to find ways to preserve, interpret and re-use the historic Greystone psychiatric hospital (PNJ 10 Most Endangered Historic Site 2003). According to the Star Ledger, Codey “will introduce a resolution next week when the Senate reconvenes to establish a panel to include historians, mental health advocates, architects, local, county and state officials, plus former Greystone patients and/or family members.”
PNJ is pleased to hear of Sen. Codey’s support for preservation of this nationally significant historic site in Morris County. Perhaps a charrette, similar to that sponsored by PNJ, AIA-NJ, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and other state and national organizations, to explore preservation and re-use potential of Eero Saarinen’s Bell Labs building in Holmdel, would be an effective way to move ahead with this complex preservation study?
Boston's Liberty Hotel, formerly the Charles Street Jail. Photo courtesy of GO magazine.
Preservationists have no trouble connecting tourism, and the economic benefits associated with such, to historic places and the unique opportunities they offer for travelers. And it seems even the airline industry is catching the buzz! Reinforcing the undeniable link between history and tourism, this month’s issue of GO, found in the seat pockets of AirTran Airways jets across the United States, features an article on the merits of rehabilitating historic structures for use as hotels. The article focuses on the celebrated rehabilitation of Boston’s Charles Street Jail into The Liberty Hotel, completed in 2007. Tantalizing mentions of similar projects in New York, Milwaukee, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Connecticut are sure to give anyone the “travel bug, ” and hopefully, encourage tourists to investigate these more adventurous and engaging lodging options for their next trip. It’s heritage tourism at it’s most basic!
