A New Direction for Preservation In Spring Lake ???
by Peter Saklas
Shortly after we created the Preservation Alliance in 1999, we tried to convince the Borough Planning Board and Council to adopt a traditional preservation ordinance. To be brief, we failed. For the next 15 years, while continuing to work towards a preservation ordinance, we also worked to preserve historic structures and had some success. The Duggan Building is a prime example. Another accomplishment has been our support for homeowners who have successfully appealed to the Planning Board for variances partly based on the owner’s incorporation of historic preservation into their projects. A walk around the Borough shows there are many who have preserved historic homes. Each year we recognize a handful of property owners who took extraordinary efforts to preserve historic homes and commercial buildings. Since 1999, we have recognized over 100 properties and there are hundreds more we have left “on the table” for potential future recognition.
Modest success was not enough. Whenever a significant historic home disappears, we are berated for not stopping the demolition of historic homes. Residents ask us to do more. When we ask, “Do you want to preserve Spring Lake’s historic heritage?” most residents say yes. However, most residents also reject the concept of mandatory preservation requirements. Our efforts taught us that mandatory preservation requirements are not feasible, and we have concluded that they are off the table. We wanted to focus on what we could do to enhance voluntary historic preservation. With this in mind we developed a proposal we call Relief and Incentives.
RELIEF AND INCENTIVES - A NOVEL APPROACH
There are several hundred historic properties where the owners have made the effort to preserve their historic appearance while bringing them up to date. We feel there could be many more if the Borough had a program that offered a little bit of help. A voluntary program providing some relief from current zoning requirements and incorporating incentives would encourage more folks to preserve historic homes. Because the Relief and Incentives proposal involves land use zoning, the Planning Board is responsible for making a recommendation to Council. Therefore, we made a presentation to the Planning Board in August 2016 and followed with responses to questions raised a month later. The Planning Board, in a letter from the Board attorney, recommended the Council establish a committee of Council and Planning Board members to discuss the proposal in more depth.
YOU CAN READ THE PASL RESPONSE TO ISSUES RAISED BY THE PLANNING BOARD HERE
YOU CAN READ THE LETTER FROM THE PLANNING BOARD ATTORNEY HERE
We then made a presentation to the Borough Council that describes the proposal early in 2017. The presentation was essentially the same as the presentation made to the Planning Board.
ThE COUNCIL PRESENTATION describes the “Relief and Incentives” proposal and you can read it here.
The “relief” and “incentives” would make restoring historic structures more practical by eliminating some of the procedural headaches when adapting a historic property to current zoning and by providing flexibility to allow a property owner to bring the home up to date without destroying its historical character. The relief and incentives would also give the Preservation Alliance and others in the Borough something to offer owners of historic properties to encourage preservation. In addition to the inherent recognition that the Borough wants to preserve historic structures, the relief and incentives would be “selling points” to persuade property owners to consider restoration in lieu of demolition.
The Preservation Alliance recognizes that the relief and incentives concept cannot be a blank check and there would have to be reasonable limits. For example, the total bulk of the historic structure and all other structures on the property as well as the total impervious coverage would not be allowed to exceed that allowed by new construction. Also, once a property owner elects to take advantage of the relief and/or the incentives, the historic exterior of the structure as viewed from the street must be maintained.
We knew that making a relief and incentives program part of the Borough’s ordinances would need a long process and a good bit of give and take. We, as did the Planning Board in its letter to Council, requested the Council create committee work with us to develop a workable proposal. After our presentation in early 2017, Borough staff and Council members raised a number of issues resulting in no action. In January 2019 we made a follow-up presentation and responded in writing to most of the issues.
YOU CAN READ OUR RESPONSE TO THOSE ISSUES HERE
We again requested the Council form a committee to work on the issue. We also noted that a Master Plan update was about to begin. We felt the Master Plan citizen involvement process would demonstrate the support for our proposal. The next step was to work with Planning Board on its process to update the Borough Master Plan to insure the Preservation Element of the Master Plan justifies the need for preservation of historic structures and recommends the “Relief and Incentives” proposal. Unfortunately, the “update” to the Master Plan was simply a “reexamination” of the 2010 Plan and did not involve any major revisions. The September 2022 Newsletter Article provides a description of the status of our efforts, which can be summarized by the Title: Preservation Ordinance: We Have Tried and We Surrender.
YOU CAN READ THE ARTICLE HERE
While we will not be pursuing a formal preservation ordinance, there are other actions we plan to undertake.Please read on.
ADDITIONAL PLANS
We intend to implement a comprehensive program to encourage the preservation of historic properties. The elements of the program are listed below: Some are not dependent on a formal relief and incentives program but certainly will be far more effective if the Borough adopts a formal program.
An outreach program to potential property buyers that features the availability of historic properties. This could include, in periodicals focused on preservation, articles highlighting the availability of historic homes in Spring Lake and, of course, the many features of our town. The program might also include an effort to place informational advertisements in those periodicals as well as others that circulate to readers that may be interested in property at the Jersey Shore.
An outreach to all owners of historic properties to explain the advantages of the relief and incentives program as well as the advantages of owning and preserving a historic property.
An outreach program to all realtors to explain the advantages of the relief and incentives program, plus preparation of information packets for distribution to prospective purchasers.
A tabulation of historic homes that have been renovated, hopefully with their owners’ commitment to share their renovation experience and knowledge with those who may be interested in buying and preserving a historic home in Spring Lake.
A resource list of architects and contractors that are interested in preserving historic properties, as well as a list of vendors that can provide “hard to find” historic material.
A catalog of books, web sites, periodicals, etc., that provide information on historic structures and historic structure restoration.
A historic reference section in our website that includes much of the information listed in the above items.
An information center in the new Duggan Building focusing on historic preservation.