2001 Annual Report New Jersey Historic Preservation Office Department of Environmental Protection • Division of Parks and Forestry A Highlights New Vision ❖ 21 new listings were added to the for Historic Preservationin New Jersey & National Registers of Historic Places, now totaling 1601 listings. New Jersey ❖ HPO assisted 64 applicants in qualifying for investment tax credits, leveraging more than $5 million in construction activity. arly this year, New Jersey convened an Advisory Committee that included representa- ❖ One new Certified Local Ethe New Jersey Historic Preservation Office and tives from state and local govern- Government municipality joined the ments and private and non-profit program raising the total of Preservation New Jersey began organizations interested in preserva- participating communities to 34. developing a new five-year plan for historic preservation in New Jersey. tion and the future of New Jersey’s ❖ Seven new FY 2001 CLG grant communities to help develop the The purpose was to develop a awards were made totaling $130,646 plan. They helped set visions and for technical assistance, education plan that would offer a new vision goals for the plan; identified ways to and planning projects. for historic preservation; recommend link preservation to other major state goals and actions to realize the initiatives and organizations; and ❖ 61 SHPO Opinions of Eligibility vision; and attract a broad range of advance implementation of the plan. were rendered. partners to help implement the plan. In addition to relying on the The plan, entitled New Jersey Advisory Committee to guide the ❖ 2161 requests for Section 106 Partners for Preservation, builds on over-all process, the Historic consultation were logged. earlier preservation work and is a Preservation Office and Preservation ❖ 275 reviews regarding applications plan for everyone in the state who New Jersey met with citizens across for project authorization under the believes historic the state to find NJ Register of Historic Places Act preservation out what they were logged. should play an most want to important role see preserved ❖ Six TEA-21 projects were reviewed. in the growth and what they and develop- thought was ❖ 204 orders filled for HPO free publi- ment of New needed to cations representing a total of 3015 Jersey commu- accomplish this. items. nities in the A two-page ❖ 677 researchers, consultants, agen- 21st century. questionnaire cies and organizations utilized the The Historic was circulated HPO library and project files. Preservation and returned by Office and over 500 peo- ❖ 95 researchers attended HPO Preservation One of several meetings of the New Jersey Historicple. Four resource training. Preservation Plan Advisors Group. (Continued on page 3) December 2001 Greetings, The holiday season is always a good time to reflect on the accomplish- ments from the past year and to plan ahead for the new year. Preservation New Jersey and the Historic Preservation Office spearheaded the formu- lation of a new plan to guide historic preservation activities in the coming years. Public surveys, community meetings and focus groups articulated the vision for New Jersey’s preservation agenda and we’re excited to launch the culmination of this planning process early next year. As you will read from the pages ahead, this past year has been filled with implementing several new initiatives such as the Civil War Monuments survey, the Women’s Heritage Trail project, and the Salem County survey, to name a few. Twenty-one new listings were added to either the NJ or National Registers of Historic Places and our regulatory workload again exceeded the number of project reviews from the previous year. Of special note was the rise in certification applications we assisted to qualify investors for the Investment Tax Credit. The diversity of project types range from small, single family dwellings (rental) to the massive rehabilitation of the Atlantic City Convention Center. The 20% tax credit leverages multi-millions in private investment and we’re hoping this trend continues into the future. This past October we added Steve Hardegen as the new Senior Historic Preservation Specialist, who replaced Carl Nittinger as the NJDOT project reviewer. Steve formerly worked as an HPO intern and most recently completed the Revolutionary War Battlefield survey for the American Battlefield Protection program sponsored by the National Park Service. 2002 promises to be a year of change and challenge. On behalf of the Historic Preservation Office, I wish to thank all of you for your efforts to preserve what’s best about New Jersey and to extend our very best wishes for a safe and healthy new year. Sincerely, Dorothy P. Guzzo Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer The Historic Preservation Office… is committed to enhancing the quality of life for the residents of New Jersey through the preservation and appreciation of our collective past. Our mission is to assist the residents of New Jersey in identifying, preserving, protecting and sustaining our historic and archaeological resources through the implementation of the state’s historic preservation program. 2 (Continued from page 1) public meetings were held during blocks for the future. They said first the spring of 2001 in Paterson, and foremost New Jersey needs to: Newton, Manalapan and - Incorporate historic preservation Collingswood. A separate meeting into all state and local planning was held for representatives of orga- activities. nizations with a particular interest in - Develop state and local financial revitalizing incentives to stimulate private New Jersey’s urban areas. investment in rehabilitating his- toric structures. The discussions and question- naires made it clear that many New - Conduct education and out- Jersey citizens care deeply about the reach to expand understanding places, cultures and traditions that and appreciation of the contri- make up New Jersey’s past. They butions preservation can make identified several major reasons why to the New Jersey economy preservation is important to them: and its communities. - Preservation helps maintain - Strengthen preservation advo- character, human scale and a sense cacy to create a strong, central- of place in New Jersey. ized voice that supports - Preservation makes economic preservation policies, funding sense for New Jersey. and activities. Consultant Elizabeth Waters records comments at one of the NJHPP - Preservation provides important When finalized, New Jersey Advisors group meeting. learning opportunities for New Partners for Preservationwill reflect Jersey citizens and visitors. the combined input of the lead New Jersey citizens told us they preservation agencies and organiza- are alarmed by the loss of farmland tions in the state, partner agencies and open space, villages being over- and organizations who have helped whelmed by sprawl, and historic develop the plan, and the views of landmarks being demolished to the hundreds of citizens who took make way for new development. the time to participate in the process. They identified what they consider The plan represents a first step in the greatest threats to heritage what we hope will be a new era in preservation in New Jersey: preservation in New Jersey. An era - Lack of knowledge and under- that embraces the new vision for standing about the nature and what preservation is and can become. location of historic resources An era characterized by a spirit of makes it difficult to make plan- partnership and collaboration. ning and development decisions New Jersey Partners for that respect and preserve New Jersey’s heritage. Preservation will be published and distributed early in 2002. - Limited financial incentives to enable investment in historic properties. - Limited understanding about the civic, economic and cultural values of heritage resources. Those who participated in the planning process said there are many things New Jersey needs to do to protect its heritage resources and realize their potential as building Over 25 individuals attended our “Speak Out” planning session in Newton. 3 LOCAL GOVERNMENT CONNECTION AND OUTREACH Assisting Local Governments … The CLG Program The Certified Local For the second time, HPO was Government Program able to offer grant awards without a continues to grow in New local match requirement. Due to our Jersey. In 2001, the NJ FY 01 increase in federal funds, Historic Preservation HPO was able to allocate $130,646 in Office (HPO) received CLG grant assistance to the follow- requests from five commu- ing communities: nities for historic preserva- Mayor, Augustus F. Tamburro discusses the position - Burlington City, $14,900 for year impacts of preservation in Evesham at our recent tion ordinance review prior 2 of an intensive level survey of workshop to submission of an appli- the local historic district. cation to participate in the - Middletown Township, $12,186 CLG program. During the for intensive level survey of two year, Mahwah Borough was local historic districts and one NJ approved by the HPO pending their and National Register Historic final execution of a certification District nomination. agreement. Mahwah Borough will be the 34th community to join our pro- - Evesham Township, $18,000 for gram. We provided techni- a historic preservation commis- cal assistance to 28 sion web page and league of communities by telephone, municipalities booth. direct mail and public - Princeton Borough, $4,240 for meetings. In addition, completion of a local historic we responded