Landmarks ordinance
is nearing completion
S.B. task force putting
final touches on
yearlong project
SOUTH BRUNSWICK — An ordinance to preserve the historic nature of the township may only be a month or two away.
Members of the Historic Preservation Ordinance Advisory Task Force are putting the finishing touches on an ordinance designed to help preserve areas of the township that may be historic.
"We hope it serves as a model," Chairman Glenn Davis said Monday night.
Davis said that the ordinance will help identify and eventually even protect areas of the township with historic significance.
Key to the success of the ordinance, Davis said, will be the designation of parts of the township as village centers, making them eligible for certain protections.
The task force has been working on developing the ordinance for over a year and has included an ongoing historic inventory by Dr. Richard Hunter.
Hunter, a Trenton archeologist, is developing the inventory of historic places and structures for the task force to help them determine just what needs protection in the township.
That inventory is expected to be finished sometime next year.
One such area is a Revolutionary War era farm in present Monmouth Junction, which may have hosted George Washington and troops during their march to Monmouth Battlefield.
Known as Long Bridge Farm, the parcel of land is believed to have been an encampment for soldiers during that march.
In working on the ordinance, the task force reviewed similar legislation from around the state.
Township Planning Director Craig Marshall said that he has received a draft of the ordinance, which is expected to be presented to the Township Council within the next two months.
The council must then vote to adopt the ordinance.
The ordinance would create a permanent commission to look at historically significant sites and try to preserve them.
That commission would be able to help get such sites listed on the state and national registers of historic places and help the owners obtain grant money to restore them.
Several sites in the township may be included in a federal project to document the troop movements of Washington and the Colonial Army during the Revolutionary War.
One of the goals of the new commission would be to include South Brunswick in a federal program called "Crossroads of the Revolution".
That program designates a large area of the state from Trenton to Morristown as historically significant, making the area eligible for federal money and protections.