By Anthony V. Coppola, Staff Writer
HIGHTSTOWN The draft ordinance formulated to guide a locally designated Stockton Street Historic District has been met with mixed reviews by two members of the Planning Board.
Under the draft ordinance, the Historic Preservation Commission would only serve as an advisory panel whose purpose would be to deter the potential demolition and relocation of structures in the historic district. This lack of authority prompted Planning Board member Nancy Walker Laudenberger to recommend, at the HPC’s Jan. 17 meeting, strengthening the guidelines.
”It has no teeth to it,” she said of the ordinance. “I’m not saying in the end a person still can’t tear it (a structure) down.”
If someone wants to relocate or demolish, she said, she’d like to require an appearance before the Borough Council or the Planning Board during which a property owner would have to present criteria where the positives outweigh the negatives.
But newly appointed Planning Board member Warren Olsen said he thinks tightening the screws could have a negative impact and make buyers nervous.
”I’ve been selling real estate for 35 years in Allentown, Hightstown and Cranbury and once people go up to a house and see a plaque (that says) 1858, right away they get excited,” Mr. Olsen said. “They wonder if it’s part of a district and what types of rules and regulations go along with it.”
Mr. Olsen also said strict provisions in the ordinance could potentially hurt property values in the district.
HPC member Kathy Patten reiterated that the wording of the draft ordinance stemmed from the feedback received in a survey issued by the HPC last year.
”The people, by and large, did not want a restrictive ordinance in place,” Ms Patten said.
Mr. Olsen maintained that the principle behind the draft of utilizing the HPC as simply an advisory body is best.
”If it was my personal property I’d want to do with it as I please,” he said.
Still, the general consensus of the of the HPC was that demolition and relocation is not something they want to happen.
”The problem with this is if people are going around knocking down contributing factors to our historic district, if they knock down too many we lose our historic district,” said Nichole L’Vov. “We need to protect our designation. We can’t do that if we start allowing people to move things and tear things down.”
The commission said it will turn to Borough Attorney Fred Raffetto to make the necessary changes in the ordinance so that it meets the recommendations of the Planning Board.
HPC members said they are still hopeful to have the ordinance appear before the Borough Council next month.
The ordinance would officially designate the Stockton Street area as historic, as has already been done by the state and federal governments.
