Residents Urge That Historic Preservation Commission Be Regulatory

On Monday night, the Board of Trustees (BOT) began the process of restarting a Historic Preservation Committee.   This has been a long battle for some residents in recent years to create a commission.  Such commissions exist in neighboring Maplewood and Millburn in an attempt to preserve community character.

At Monday’s BOT meeting, the BOT decided to move the ordinance establishing a commission back to the Planning & Zoning Committee.  The reasoning to move the ordinance back to the committee was to look at all the options afforded to the commission before making a final choice.

“I thought there was a significant amount of education that needs to be done about the ordinance options, not just this particular draft that was proposed to us by counsel,” said Trustee Janine Bauer.

Village Counsel Steven Rother warned the trustees that if the BOT moved away from a “soft advisory” type of commission, a more substantial ordinance would need to be written.  The alternative to an advisory commission, which makes recommendations to the Planning Board, is a regulatory commission, which has the power to enforce its recommendations.

During the public comments section, Amy Dahn, a past President of the Montrose Park Historic District and a member of the 2002 ad hoc committee that was commissioned to study historic commissions, brought up the report by that committee and its findings.  She focused on the section that recommended the commission be a regulatory body.

“What you really need is a regulatory commission that has teeth and has the ordinance to enforce protections to our community,” Dahn told the trustees on Monday.

She mentioned that an advisory commission will send recommendations to a Planning Board who may not have the same skill set as a Historic Preservation Commission. 

Dahn also brought up a July 2009 report by a   The report also recommended a regulatory board. 

“It is recommended that South Orange adopt a strong ordinance, giving the Historic Preservation Commission binding regulatory power over demolitions, new construction and certain exterior changes visible from the public rights-of-way to designated historic sites, districts and buildings,” the report read.

Karen Marlowe, the President of the South Orange Historical and Preservation Society, agreed with Dahn, stating that the commission should be regulatory.  She pushed that any demolition or renovations done in a historic district should be approved by the commission.  In addition, any new construction should be approved as well.

John Overall, the last surviving member of the last Historic Preservation board, pointed out that politically, the board was a great idea, but really it had no power.  He feels that a regulatory commission would be able to truly enforce the ideas of the commission.

The ordinance will be brought up at the next Planning & Zoning committee meeting.