Community planning director Shawna Ebanks distributes information Wednesday night to HPC members Paul Cagno, left, Liam Collins and Marjorie Cavalier. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Meeting for the first time in eight months Wednesday night, members of Red Bank’s Historic Preservation Commission began wrapping their heads around a new ordinance they’ll have a key role in administering.
Marjorie Cavalier with a Marine Park historic marker she had restored in 2020. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Interrupted by a change in the form of government last July that required reappointments to all boards and commissions, the HPC’s restart was delayed by the pending completion of a new preservation law (2024-03), finally adopted by the borough council February 8.
With only two carryover members, one of whom was absent, and a not-yet-full slate of members, four HPC members convened at borough hall Wednesday night.
Liam Collins, who served briefly on the HPC in the past, was elected chairman, and Marjorie Cavalier was voted vice chair. Also in attendance were returning member Paul Cagno and new member Louis Almerini; former chairman Gary Saphire was absent.
At Thursday night’s council meeting, elected officials are expected to approve Karen Schmelzkopf and Doug Miller as full HPC members, as well as two alternate members: Andy North and Bethzy Varela.
Along with Collins, Almerini and Cagno were chosen to constitute the Minor Work Review Committee, a body created by ordinance to streamline building applications in the Washington Street Historic District and a second historic overlay on the downtown.
Plans the committee approves can advance to the building permit stage, while those denied may be appealed to the planning board, said Community Planning Director Shawna Ebanks, who also serves as secretary to the HPC.
Because it is committee, its meetings will not be public, Ebanks said.
Cavalier, a retired teacher who has spearheaded efforts to call out overlooked history in town, drove much of the discussion at the one-hour session, suggesting the borough’s inventory of historic properties, set in 2009, be updated, with possible inclusion of addresses not in either historic zone.
“I think there are buildings that are significant beyond the historic districts, and I’m just concerned that certain portions of the town will just be declared unimportant, kind of swept away,” she said, adding that she did not immediately have a list in mind.
“It seems to me we have opportunities to learn through architecture,” she continued, “and we don’t really know what’s out there.”
The ordinance specifies criteria for designating properties outside the districts as historic, Ebanks noted.
The commission meets at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at borough hall.
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