Architect will
help town eye
project plans
Ordinance requires
‘traditional’ look
for new buildings
By linda denicola
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Members of the Township Committee will be making a minor modification to the town’s architectural design ordinance after discussing the issue of who decides whether a developer’s plan conforms to the traditional style requirement.
Committeeman David Salkin said he met with members of the township’s Historic Review Commission and reported that the members of that panel were concerned because they don’t believe they are qualified to do the extensive kind of review that would be required.
"They don’t feel confident that they have the credentials to hand the architect back his plans and say they are not acceptable," Salkin explained.
Township Committee members discussed having municipal professionals involved early in the process and having the Historic Review Commission sign off when the professional review is completed.
Salkin also talked about preparing a workbook so developers would know exactly what municipal officials are looking for in terms of building design.
"Our ordinance, the way it is written, gives developers a lot of leeway," he said.
Last week, Salkin said the committee has decided to use an architect who specializes in historical architecture.
"We have retained the services of Ned Gaunt, of Kaplan Gaunt DeSantis Architects in Red Bank. We will modify the ordinance slightly to make him part of the review process. We will rely more on him than on the Historic Review Commission," Salkin said.
"We are putting together a little workbook so that when a developer comes in with a project, he can get a workbook that will have, in layman terms, what we want them to do in a project. We don’t want to waste their money drawing up plans that won’t fit our specifications. Then we will have an informal process whereby the architects will get together.
"We are trying to achieve harmony. Not everything is going to have to look like a large barn. We want something that people will look at and admire as an example of good architecture," he said.
The architectural design ordinance adopted by the committee requires commercial, office and industrial developers to submit architectural renderings that conform to the new section stipulating that all commercial, office and industrial buildings and sites will have to be designed and developed in a manner that will be compatible with the architectural and visual characteristic of historic buildings, or districts, within the township.
For the most part, that means a traditional style, which includes colonial, federal, Georgian and Victorian as determined by the Freehold Township Historical Commission.
Since appropriateness of design can be quite subjective, the ordinance is very specific. There is a section on harmony of design, which states that the use of unusual shapes, colors and other characteristics which cause a new building to call excessive attention and create disharmony should be avoided.
There are also sections covering creativity and diversity of design, building details, signs and lighting, massing and scale, facade treatment and building materials, color and texture.