By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The Historic Preservation Commission met Monday afternoon to discuss the fate of the proposed Witherspoon-Jackson local historic district before about a dozen interested citizens at Witherspoon Hall.
The commission met last week to listen to consultant Robert Wise outline the rationale for the historic district, whose boundaries would be John Street, Witherspoon Street, Paul Robeson Place and the south side of Birch Avenue.
A building on the north side of Paul Robeson Place that is home to the Witherspoon Bread Co., as well as houses on Witherspoon Lane, opposite Lytle Street, were proposed to be included in the local historic district.
There was concensus among the commission members that the neighborhood — which historically has been home to Princeton’s African American community, as well as newly arrived Italian, Irish and Hispanic immigrants — meets the criteria to become a local historic district.
But there was some debate over the boundaries of the proposed district.
James Kilgore, the owner and publisher of the Packet Media Group, asked the commission to exclude 290 through 294 Witherspoon street from the district because the houses, owned by the Packet, have limited historic value. They have been used as offices for more than 30 years, he said.
The commission also discussed the standards that homeowners and property owners would have to meet, if an application were made for repairs or other work on a property in the district. If it becomes a Type 2 district, the regulations are less restrictive. Painting colors would not be considered, for example.
The possibility of creating a Type 3 district also was discussed, which would perhaps be less restrictive. Commission members pointed out that the board historically had been sympathetic to property owners’ applications and the type of building material that would be used.
A study of the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood was conducted during the summer after several neighbors approached the Historic Preservation Commission and Princeton Council to preserve the streetscape of the neighborhood.
