Historic Preservation Commission

100 Riveredge Road, Tenafly, NJ 07670 MINUTES THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2019 Chairwoman Karen Neus called the meeting to order at 8:08pm The announcement was made regarding compliance with the Open Public Meetings Law. Roll Call Members Present: Karen Neus, Rita Heller, Richard Bennett, Dave Wall, Mike Barone, Reno Danese Also present was Council Liaison Jeff Grossman Members Absent: None Introduction of new HPC Recording Secretary/Admin Asst. Ms. Neus introduced Amanda Booth as the new Recording Secretary/Administrative Assistant. Ms. Booth explained to the group her role in the Fire Department and touched on some of her daily tasks and previous work experience. Ms. Booth will be working on the Table 13 Excel spreadsheet and producing the monthly minutes. Thank you to Councilman Grossman for helping facilitate the position and push along at the council level. Approval of Minutes- no minutes from last month. Certificates of Appropriateness—none. Old Business a. Stanton House restoration—Mr. Wall took notes from the tour of the Stanton House to be used for the nomination of the county award. Ms. Neus explained the house was already nominated for the county award at a previous meeting. She explained that the deadline was approaching and the homeowner then completed and submitted the application. Ms. Neus said the application was reviewed and forwarded to Mr. Barone to review before presenting to the group at the last meeting. The date of the ceremony is (if they do win) is May 9, 2019. Mr. Wall will follow up on the application. b. RR Station spring inspection—Councilman Grossman spoke about the historic grants available from the County which the Borough will be applying for. An option raised at a previous meeting was to apply for grant funding and have the Borough match the amount of the grant to complete the renovations on the station. Maser will take the lead on developing the grant and using Tim Adriance’s inspection report from last year with regards to the items that need to be upgraded or repaired. It was discussed to have Mr. Adriance return this year to inspect the station of any changes to the cupola, electrical system in the attic, roof leaks identified last year, and the shingles on NE corner missing. The group was reminded that the HPC resolved in 2017 that yearly inspections by agents of the HPC be undertaken of the Railroad Station and the Roosevelt Monument. Mr. Barone offered to use his drone early in the morning to take still pictures and video of the cupola to get a better look at the current conditions. The deadline for the Bergen County grant is May 19th or 20th. The report findings and pictures will be given to Maser to write a grant off the details given. The question of a possible fire alarm in the building, sprinkler system and suppression system were discussed, if there are any open violations on the building, the trash issue and the signage. c. Roosevelt Monument restoration project—nothing new to report. Ms. Neus reported that Bob Carpenter already pre-qualified at the county and state level. If he is specified in the grant that then removes the necessity for going out to bid for the work that needs to be completed. Unknown when the work will start or the timeline on the project. Skateboard damage to the monument triggered the construction fencing to close the monument until further steps can be taken to protect it. Mr. Wall spoke with the BOE to play his power point presentation to the students. The Borough is working on an ordinance to protect the monuments and make prosecution more ease due to the damage to the monuments in town. Councilman Grossman went into more detail on the skateboard ordinance to be discussed in more detail at the April 9th, 2019 work session. Fines and penalties that could be given if cited on Public Areas/Borough owned areas such as Roosevelt Monument & Commons including the tennis court except for areas already instituted; Peace Plaza, basketball court, Oresko Monument & Oresko Park, Huyler Bandstand, Muni Field, Tenafly Nature Center, train station/Café Angelique, Davis Johnson Park.  d. COE for Roosevelt Common landscape – summer intern??—Ms. Neus spoke about applying for state land marking for Roosevelt Commons to open up eligibility for other sources of funding for changes, repairs, renovations in the landscape as a whole. Kevin Tremble advised Ms. Neus that we should not attempt to fill out the application ourselves, it should be done by someone like Robin Brown to complete the application. Summer Intern—Mr. Barone contacted Columbia University department program manager to share with current students and alumni. Possibly more effective to have a posting through the borough and interview or through word of mouth from the County to get a summer intern or hire a consultant like Robin Brown. e. Northern Valley Greenway—The section in Tenafly between Clinton Avenue & Central Avenue (4 way stop) will be the most constricting area of the 7 mile path. Question brought to the groups attention by Ms. Neus is are we going to keep the rails to keep the context of the railroad station? The rails are considered an asset to the property so we would need to make it know early that they are to be kept during the property transfer negotiations. The next step of the Commission to pass a resolution to state the interest in keeping the rail tracks especially between Washington Avenue and Clinton Avenue to keep the context for the railroad station. Councilman Grossman stated that this will not be moving quickly there is talk about other towns up the line maintaining the rails for light rail or CSX will maintain the freight service where it appears there might be a potential customer. NJDOT estimation on getting the ball rolling is approximately 6 years. f. Mario thank you—Ms. Heller thought it would be appropriate to express our gratitude to Mario for his distinguished service for the past 12-14 years on the Commission. Ms. Heller suggested to frame an artwork print approximately $150.00-$200.00 from the HPC Trust Fund. Moved by: Mr. Wall Seconded by: Mr. Barone Unanimously approved. g. Planning Board update of the Historic Plan Element—Property 191 Jefferson new house built on 195 Jefferson subdivided lot. 195 Jefferson is a house that has National Register and State Historic Landmark as well on the Stonehouse survey. Question is what type of designation or oversight on the new house? It was decided previously that the reference would be to the original Block and Lot. The new house is clearly not on either register but it is locally designated. Ms. Neus spoke of the changes of notes to the Table 13 and discrepancies on the spreadsheet. Question brought to the group is that if they designate all the Block and Lots as in the Laimbeer Estate that would then create a district. The Laimbeer Estate is entered 3 times on Table 13 as in the main house, care takers cottage and the stone walls. Mr. Wall asked if anything has been landmarked in the last 5 years. Approximately 2-3 years ago Ms. Neus stated that 82 Norman Place was surveyed because the homeowners wanted the house landmarked. Church of Atonement was studied but not designated. 29 Norman Place was studied but not worthy of designation being it was an ordinary farm house. 11 Knoll Road was studied but the history and architecture is not worthy of designation. Mr. Barone asked how many properties since the last review have been demolished. Ms. Neus stated that she is updating Table 13 with comments but not to remove the line being or house demolished because it is a historical record for Tenafly. Kevin suggested to make a note which house was an Atwood Design. One of the items Ms. Booth will assist the HPC is to work on is to build on the Table 13 sheet and send out solicitation for centennial plaques down the road. h. Financial Disclosure Deadline by April 30, 2019 i. Planning Board have not met in over a month—As per Councilman Grossman there is nothing to report. Scratch on Oresko Park—Ms. Heller unsure of scratch. j. Mario’s replacement—The Mayor is to see if Brendan Lee would like to be a candidate on the Commission. Mr. Danese is now the alternate and the new member will be the 2nd alternate. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:40pm. Moved by: Mr. Danese Seconded by: Mr. Bennett Unanimously approved. Respectfully submitted, Amanda Booth Secretary | Administrative Assistant MINUTES APPROVED May 2, 2019