Preservation may mean
some compromise needed
A plan has been placed on the table in Freehold Borough that calls for the municipality to examine the possibility of appointing some type of local historic preservation commission.
Such a committee did exist in the past but disbanded, perhaps caught in the battle between staunch support for preservation and business interests that did not want to be burdened with regulations.
Historic preservation in this region is often a balancing act. The interests of those who seek to protect historic properties are weighed against the interests of people who want to develop, or at least reuse, a property.
Several examples come to mind.
In Marlboro, the Hobart house on Route 79, the one-time residence of former Vice President Garret A. Hobart, had fallen into a terrible state of disrepair. A once-proud house was nothing more than an eyesore. Within the past year the house was adapted to a business use, with an addition built at the rear of the home. Is this perfect historic preservation? Perhaps not, but in the end the integrity of the look of the house was retained and cast the property in a much better light than the falling-down ramshackle appearance it had taken on.
In Freehold Township, the Solomon barn and house at the corner of Route 537 and Wem-rock Road have been moved from their location at the corner to the back of the property, which is being developed as a retail center. The house and the barn are ex-pected to be restored and turned into a mini-historic area. As in the example of the Hobart house, this is not perfect historic preservation, but it is a pragmatic way of ensuring the future of buildings that hold special meaning in the community.
Certainly, Freehold Borough is a town filled with historic properties and people who care about them.
The first step in determining whether to name a historic preservation commission will be the formation of what is being called an exploratory panel to study the issue.
The suggestion has been made, and we concur, to include people of diverse backgrounds and interests on this panel. We would also suggest representation from the business community because it is possible that some historic preservation efforts in the future will involve properties that have been or will be converted to commercial uses.
Within the past year the Free-hold Vintage Homeowners Assoc-iation has resurrected the topic of historic preservation in town and that group, too, should have a voice in this initial study.
Historic preservation doesn’t have to mean that nothing can ever be done to an old building that would prevent its reuse today. People representing different segments of the Freehold Borough community should be able to work with the town’s elected officials to come up with feasible regulations and procedures that offer common sense attention to the protection of the town’s historic inventory.