HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP: Township creates Rural Harbourton Historic District

Mayor: ”I really think we have been able to preserve a jewel of the township”

By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
   An ordinance creating the Rural Harbourton Historic District was adopted by a 4-0 vote of the Hopewell Township Committee on Monday night.
   Voting in favor of the measure were Mayor Vanessa Sandom, Deputy Mayor John Murphy and Committeemen Jim Burd and David Sandahl. Committeeman Michael Markulec was absent.
   The new historic district is centered around the small village of Harbourton, which is on and around Route 579 in the scenic northwestern portion of the 58-square mile township.
   ”I really think we have been able to preserve a jewel of the township,” Mayor Sandom said.
   The ordinance came with the endorsement of the township’s Historic Preservation Commission, which researched the matter for months and consulted with residents and property owners in Harbourton. Among them was the Newhouse family. Speaking for that family Monday night during the public hearing on the ordinance was land-use attorney Dan Haggerty, who periodically has represented the Newhouse family on matters pertaining to their land over the past 20 years.
   ”I just want to commend the Township Committee for the deliberate and inclusive manner in which they developed this ordinance,” said Mr. Haggerty.
   THE DISTRICT includes properties owned by Donald Newhouse, of New York City; James Regan, of Woosamonsa Road; and John and Lillian Orlando (a portion along the road), David and Cara Brown, Timothy Haynes and Erika Kotite, Doris Van Dyke, Harbourton Cemetery Association, Hank and Judy Holton, Kim Waters and Kathy Bird, all of Harbourton-Rocktown Road.
   The township’s October 2008 decision to purchase the 14-acre Regan tract near the intersection of Harbourton-Woodsville and Harbourton-Rocktown roads provided the “anchor” for the historic district.
   Mayor Sandom recently said the historic district is roughly bounded by the Harbourton Cemetery to the east, the Newhouse property to the west, the Orlando property to the north and the Regan tract to the south.