By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
Now that Pennington Borough has a historic district, it needs to form the Historic Preservation Commission required by the same 13-page ordinance that created the district.
By a 4-2 vote, the Borough Council adopted the ordinance May 2, following a three-hour public hearing during which more than 40 residents and business people spoke.
Nearly as many of the speakers were opposed to the ordinance as were in favor of it.
The district includes about 150 structures in the central, oldest part of the borough, along Main Street and Delaware Avenue.
The borough has asked anyone interested in serving on its Historic Preservation Commission to send a letter of interest to Mayor Anthony Persichilli. There are seven regular and two alternate positions available.
Applicants are asked to cite any relevant experience in their letter, which may be e-mailed to the mayor at [email protected] or mailed to him at Borough Hall, 30 N. Main St., Pennington 08534.
Under the ordinance, owners of structures that were built before 1945 will have to obtain a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission before being able to demolish a building or make certain changes to it that will be visible from the street.
Those changes include addition, reconstruction, alteration or replacement.
Other duties and responsibilities of the Historic Preservation Commission include:
• To monitor, record and maintain a survey of all buildings, sites, objects and improvements and areas of historical significance in the borough.
• To recommend to the Borough Council the designation of buildings, structures, sites, objects or improvements as historical landmarks and to recommend the designation of historic districts and to recommend any of them for inclusion on the New Jersey or national register of historic places.
• To make recommendations to the borough Planning Board on the historic preservation element of the borough’s Master Plan.
• To monitor and recommend to the borough the submission of any grants or grant applications related to historic preservation.
• To carry out any other advisory, informational or educational functions that will promote historic preservation in the borough.

