Good evening and welcome to the December 18th, 2025 meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission. This is a regularly scheduled meeting of the HPC. Notice has been given in the Montlair Times, the Star Ledger, and the Herald News. Uh notice has also been posted in
uh City Hall. We're being broadcast on channel 34, the Montlair public television channel. We are also being livereamed on Montlair's YouTube channel. Uh the first order of business is to call the role. >> Yes. Um Chair Bennett is not present.
Vice Chair Graham >> here. >> Acting as chair. Thank you. Mr. Rhyitz >> here. >> Mr. Rooney >> here. >> Mr. Sweeney is not present. Mr. Giuliano >> here. >> Miss Kane Levy >> here. >> Mr. Mixer >> here. Miss Floyd is not present at the
moment and Mr. Smolan >> here >> and our attorney Janine Bower is not present today. >> Great. Uh before we get into adoption of the uh calendar and approval of the minutes, I just wanted to welcome uh
back Commissioner Kane Levy. It was when I first joined this board, it was a pleasure to serve with you. I know uh many others on this board have served. Uh you served admirably and we're uh lucky to have you back. Thank you so much. I'm really happy to be here. >> Thanks. Um, so, uh, with that, we have
the adoption of the Historic Preservation Commission 2026 meeting calendar. So, did everyone have a chance to review that? Oh, yeah. Where's my paper? Oh, thanks. Does anyone have any uh issues or
concerns with any of the dates um as they are presented? >> No. >> All right. So, I would make a motion to approve. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> I motion carries. Uh next we have the approval of the minutes from November
13, 2025. Does anyone have any changes they would like to make to the minutes? No changes. Um, I can only vote on the portion of the uh minutes where I attended and did not recuse myself and I don't have any
changes on that portion. Um, but I would like to make a motion to adopt the minutes. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. And with that, we'll move on to resolutions. Uh the first resolution uh
is 580 Valley Road, BG Valley Bank, block uh 1711, lot 30, total demolition of drive-thru bank building. Does uh does anyone have any changes they'd like to make to that resolution?
>> See, straightforward. So, uh oh, if somebody would like to make a motion. >> Uh I move to adopt that resolution. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. And abstensions. I have to abstain. >> And I abstain.
>> Okay. Next, we have application 2025-27612 Valley Road. Uh, Gillette Sandwich Bar LLC, block 2601, lot 5, facade updates for expansion into adjacent storefront. Uh, any changes to that resolution? No.
>> Okay. I don't see any. Uh would someone like to make a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed and abstensions. >> I'm >> abstain. Three abstensions. >> Okay. >> I'll just note for the record that Miss
Floyd has arrived before any business has begun. >> Welcome. >> All right. Uh, next resolution is application 2025-29, 164 Bloomfield Avenue, ATM Core, block 3101, lot 19, Hartley Street, facade
updates. Uh, does anybody have any changes to the resolution? All right. Would someone like to make a resol uh a motion to adopt? >> Motion to adopt. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I
>> opposed and abstensions. Abstain. Three. Okay. Next we have the resolution to retain uh Safferman Lacken Bloomstein and Blader as HBC attorney. Would anybody like to make any comments?
>> I would make a motion to adopt the resolution. >> A second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed and abstensions. Okay. Next is resolution to retain architectural heritage consultants as
HPC architect. Uh any uh any comments? >> No. >> So with that uh I would make a motion to adopt. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? >> Abstensions. All right. Resolution pass.
Carries. All right. Uh does anyone have any committee reports? All right. See Oh, sorry, John. >> No, normally Kathleen does it for the minor applications. So, >> we'll we'll stack them on the next report.
>> Perfect. Uh, and next order of business is public comment. Would anyone from the public like to make any comments prior to uh getting into our our applications? All right. Public comment. Seeing no
comments, public comment is closed. Uh, we have no old business on the agenda. So, we will move to new business. Uh, board of adjustment referral application 294851 Elm Street, St. Marks United Methodist Church, block 3112, lot 20,
historic marker sign. Good evening. If you'd like to sit, you can sit as well. Uh, but it's your preference. Whichever whichever you would like. >> Well, I'm going to slides. >> Sure. Then if you wouldn't mind using the handheld microphone uh next to the
computer that would be great >> when I do that. >> Uh well actually uh now as well if you're going to stand next to there. >> Yeah. So if you wanted to then stand here. >> Okay. >> Are we ready? >> Uh yes. If you'd like to introduce
yourself please and uh state your connection to the application please. >> Okay. Um, good evening commissioners. My name is Betty Holloway and I am a member of St. Mark's United uh Methodist Church
and I am one of the um uh co-leaders of this particular project. And if you would allow me a few minutes, I'd also like to uh introduce you to our pastor who is here, Reverend Kay Dubis,
>> um >> attending the meeting uh for the um this recognition. Um, as you may know, we were recently um recognized along with two other sites in Mont Clair by the New
Jersey Historical Commission uh to be one of the Black Heritage Trail sites. Um, so I am here tonight um to request approval uh for the signage
um that is um set up by the New Jersey Historical Commission and Zanith. I have some extra copies of um >> and I'll just clarify, Miss Holloway, the uh meeting tonight will provide advisory comments. when you go to the
zoning board of adjustment, they will give the final approval. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> So, what I'd like to do is to introduce you to our site. Uh just in case you're not familiar with it. And the pictures
here uh replicate some of the ones that you have already. But what I did was I took um pictures. so that you could get um a different view of the the area and where we are proposing to put the
signage. But just to give you a little history um about about St. marks. Um what I'm showing you here is um the first Methodist Episcopal
Church in Montlair was established in 1836 as the first church in town and it was also a school. Um and the first Methodist Episcopal Church
resided in this building until 1879 from 1836 to 1879. And in 1880, um the um active African-American, the
formerly enslaved former um or and free people um were beginning to build community. And so this was one of the not one of the this was the first African-American institution established
here in Montclair, New Jersey. 1880 we uh took over the building because they built the brand new church over on North Fullerton. Um and so we were in this building until uh 1947.
They we built the parsonage next door um in 1895. So, I was a member of the zoning board of adjustment long ago. Uh and the
application for the parsonage uh came before us and on condition of approval of that application, we asked that a a marker be placed to designate that this house was once the parsonage of the
first African-American church in Montlair. And this was done around 2009. So that you can't see it if you go by there now because it's covered with snow and shrubbery, overgrown shrubbery.
So to tell you to um make our case for the signage to be placed at our current location, what you're looking at here is a picture from 19 April 4th, which was
Good Friday, 1947. uh a fire destroyed the building inside and so um as you can imagine it was a very uh devastating event. However, uh
this church prior to this fire had served the community in a number of ways. um where there was a need for an organization such as the YW.CA.
uh our member Alice Houie Foster along with other members Harriet Terry who was our deputy mayor's uh grandmother uh Roger Terry uh his grandmother was a
part of the group of women um who established the YWCA. And so by 1926 the YW.CA CA had built a recreation building and it was there that for 2 and
1/2 years um services were held at um um the uh recreation building for the Y. And um also 1905 uh our minister Reverend John Blake met
and they formed the YMCA for colored men. Now most of you who have been here for a long time are probably familiar with the Y on Washington Street. Uh that was not the first location. The first location was up on Park and Bloomfield
Avenue for which is where when Reverend Blake was here where he established it. We were also this building was the location for the establishment of the NAACP 1916 of which our minister was the first
served as the first president of that organization. So in this building um a lot happened to establish the African-American community here in Montlair. So um
after that devastating fire there was already uh preparations for to move in a new building as you can imagine. Um by 1947 that building was 111 years old and the repairs on it was
just stifling. And so preparations had already been made to build this church. So that uh really moved the hastened the process for us to um have another location. We had already
bought the property at here at Elm and Fulton Street. So this was uh the building and this is where we proposed to um put the signage
um uh that indicates our um designation as a black heritage site. So this is just another view giving you a full frontal view of the church. Most of the time when you look at the
building, you don't see the other door on the right side of the building. So getting a full frontal view, you see where the signage will be placed. So it'll have uh it's really a a pedestrianfriendly
location. Um the other picture that you have um shows you that you know we're in the location where there's um a Head Start program and the Charles Bulock School is on the
left side of the fence. So we're perfect location for um outreach programs to students in the in the area. So the um the marker um
verbiage is here which is I think you have a copy of it there so I won't read it but the I put this picture in there for you to see other locations that have been
established where the New Jersey uh black her the historic commission have placed other signage around the state. The one that you're looking at here is in Cape May. It's at the uh historic black uh
Franklin Street School. And it gives you an idea of the height and what it looks like, you know, in that placement. And on the right is another sign that was um I think both of
these were placed in November uh which was the historic Timbuktu site in West Hampton uh New Jersey. And um okay, I think that's just the site
survey there. So that's uh St. marks and um part of our story, not the entire story because you know at our current building
uh we have a number of programs outreach to the community. We have a food distribution program. We are a respit for the homeless. uh we um recently we were designated and we are one of the
only reconciling uh churches in this general conference uh of our church. So um and we're also a location for a freedom school. So beyond Sunday services, we are very engaged uh in the
community uh with the various programs that we continue uh to um promote. >> And then Miss Holloway, did you want to touch on um how this sign changed because what the commissioners received
and what I included in my report was a slightly smaller sign. >> Yes. >> And pole height. what what we learned, which is why I put this picture in the group, we thought it was a much higher
uh signage. >> Um yes. Uh but the signage that was placed at the baseball field in Patterson, the um the Black Heritage um I forgot
the name of it. >> He Yes, that's Say that again. Heat cliff. Yes. At that baseball field, it is like 10 feet tall and you'd have to stand and look. But at a baseball field, that seems familiar. But for it
to be more pedestrian friendly, um the um specifications which are in the packet and it's Oops. Oops, here we go.
>> The the um the pole the it is required that three feet of the pole be placed in the ground in cement and 4 feet
40 or 48 in of the uh the pole be above ground. And the signage itself is 48 in and it's uh 42 in wide.
So what came in the original package was a much taller sign. And um so we wanted to show the new um measurements for a site such as ours.
Yeah, I just think um the first packet that we received was the sign with the 30 in. And just now that you've gotten the specific requirements from the state program, that sign is actually a little bit taller. Yes. >> So it's 48 in instead of 30. >> Right. >> Yeah.
>> Right. 42 in wide. >> 42 in wide. That everything >> rather than the height of the sun. >> Right. >> Thank you. Uh >> Betty. >> Oh. >> Oh, I was just gonna apologize. I was just going to ask if you had anything
else additional you'd like to add before we open up to questions. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Uh questions from the commission. >> Uh Miss Floyd, any questions? >> No, not at all. >> Mr. Juliano, >> I have none. >> Mr. Rooney? >> No. No. >> Mr. Ryan, Mr. Mix?
>> No. >> No. >> All right. Uh Mr. Smallen. Um, so I don't have a report here, but I think just to focus the conversation that the zoning board would be looking for you all to opine on
um a sign height that's exceeding the 6 foot ordinance um like permitted height. So there it's being exceeded by just two feet and uh the area of the sign I think is around 14 or 15 square feet proposed
and only two square feet is permitted. Um, so it's a it's a detached sign. It's very distant from the building. It's not blocking any um critical viewpoints or anything. So I think you should be able to make a finding here pretty
expeditiously that that this is appropriate for the site. Uh just uh one question on the text. I wasn't sure if you mentioned that there was a fire. I don't know if you wanted to mention that in the text of the uh uh to the old site. Maybe that's why it moved to this site, the church.
>> Just a suggestion. >> The text you're >> suggesting that >> I'm just asking if I'm just This is >> completely at your discretion, but the sign um I know you'd mentioned that there was a fire and that's why the church had moved from its previous site to the new site.
>> Um I don't know if you'd like to consider uh referencing that in the text on the sign. Uh, seems like a piece of history that might be that might be important to >> Yes. commemorate. Can >> you say St. Mark's United Methodist Church
was founded in 1880 at 194 Blueville Avenue. We don't mention it emerged as a vital hub for growing. Okay. So we don't mention fire specifically. So are you suggesting
>> it's just up to your discretion? Yeah. From a >> history point >> from a history point of view. I think it's an interesting uh fact that the reason why it moved was due to a fire and that that's why it's at the current location. Okay. uh 100% at your discretion, but I just thought it would be worth uh suggesting in a
>> that can be done. >> Okay, >> not a problem. >> Okay. Um any questions from the public? >> Okay, seeing none, we'll close uh public questions. Um any comments from the public?
Okay, seeing none, we'll close public comment. Any questions? Any comments? Uh we can do comments from the board. Yes. I just want to say, Petty, you are phenomenal and thank you so much for maintaining and restoring our history as
far as African-American community in Monontlair because, you know, without you, I think we would kind of be dissipating a little bit. So, this is fantastic and thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Very, very appreciative of your hard work. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Truliana.
>> Nothing that Zena hasn't said already. Um, I think if we're going to approve a sign that's bigger than the ordinance allows, having it be for a reason that explains the history of a building is the whole point of why we're here. So, I'm 100% supportive of it. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Rooney.
>> No question. Great job. I learned a lot tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I Oh, sorry. I'll start with Mr. Mixer. >> No comments for me. Thanks. >> Just great job. One little question. What are the other heritage sites that are getting >> Oh, um, thank you for asking that. The
other heritage sites, um, include the Montlair, um, the Crane House and historic YW.CA and also uh, the How House. >> Great. >> At 369 Claremont Avenue. >> Great. >> So, the three of us are I could tell you
how we're intimately connected. So, do we have to see those signs as well or is this a >> So, we did review the one at the crane house earlier this year. Um, there have to go a little bit back to the board for this revision in the height um and size
of the sign, but I don't think it will be an issue. And then we haven't seen the other ones yet. >> No, >> no. I think it's a rolling process. >> Thanks, >> Mr. Smalling. Yeah, I just want to echo what my fellow commissioners have said. I think this is
an outstanding project. I think if we're going to uh grant a variance, there is probably no better reason I can think of and I think this is a wonderful project. So, thank you so much for your hard work >> and thank you all. >> Thank you. >> You've been very gracious. I appreciate it.
>> Thank you, Zanet. Okay. Our next application is uh 29566-10 Erie Street BDP 6-10 Erie LLC block 3307 lot 7 freestanding signs.
>> Hey, good evening. David Place, chief executive officer of BDP Holdings, uh managing member of the applicant. Great. Thank you. Uh would you like to proceed with a presentation? >> Uh if there is a presentation to proceed with, we're here for uh I think advisory
review of a sign package including two freestanding signs that require variances uh due to the lack of building setbacks and lack of our property facing a municipal parking lot. >> Okay. Um do we have those uh photos? I
have the signage. >> I think it's slow. That's it. Okay. In a font we all can read, I presume. Um, so really There we go. Uh, so we have two
freestanding signs that we're looking to place at the property. One here, uh, at the northern entry to the property off at Erie Street. There's a landscape island and lighting island that's been installed as approved in our prior site plan approval.
And we're back. Uh, obviously there's very little setback on the property line. I think code calls for 15 ft. We're essentially at the property line. So, we need a variance for that. And uh you know, the property is irregularly shaped, does not face necessarily a
municipal parking lot according to code. So, variance for that as well. Uh and then we have another freestanding side off of Oak Place that's really directional in nature. This property has two different sets of addresses. Oak Place which accesses the ground floor
second floor office space of the building and then the Eerie Street addresses which access or define the retail frontage along Eerie Street. So a directional sign on Oak Place indicating that this entrance is for office
parking. Uh based on our prior site plan, this is no longer a two-way access road behind the property. It's one way. Now everyone can read it. Uh this is one way. Um so you can
ingress and eress off of Oak Place, but you cannot ingress and come around to the Eerie Street side of the building. So we just want a directional sign that's freestanding on Oak Place indicating that the retail access is up on Erie Street. the office accesses
here. Um, same issues there with regards to, you know, building setback and municipal parking lot variances. >> Understood. Okay. >> Some pictures of these. >> Oh, John, you're Okay.
So this would be the directional signage off of Oak Place. Again, indicating the office suites are in the Oak Place parking lot. And if you're accessing or looking for the retail, you proceed east on Oak Place to the Eerie Street lot.
>> And that's going to be placed right on the property line. Is that what I'm hearing or understand? near the property line. I think it'll be a couple couple feet off of the property line. >> But too close according to the code. >> Yeah. According to code, I believe
you're not allowed to have a freestanding sign unless your building is set back 15 ft from the property line. >> Got it. >> Our building is not set back 15 ft from the property line. >> Okay. And then this would be the freestanding sign along Erie. Really just indicating
the tenency within the property. Again, the building is L-shaped off of Erie Street. It provides really limited visibility to who the tenants are if you're driving by. So, um, really, you know, tenant signage or marquee signage for the tenants.
I think the dimensions of these signs are roughly 2 feet by two feet. Code allows for up to 12 square feet of freestanding signage. So, we're well below that limitation. Uh I think the height is, you know, believe it or not, up to 12 ft. Um or I think installing
these at 4T. Um so everything else is according to ordinance. >> Okay. Uh any uh questions from the commissioners? Uh Miss Floyd? >> No. No. >> No commission. No questions. >> Mr. Juliano? >> No. >> Mr. Rooney? >> No. >> Mr. Ryman?
>> No. >> Mr. Mixer. >> Um just one quick question. And I know it's on here. I just want to clarify the figure three, which is a photograph, I think, of the picture of front facade property from Erie Street, has like a
small yellow sign that looks like it's just maybe a >> triangle. Is that roughly where the where the freestanding sign would go? >> Yeah, that's a temporary leasing sign and that's Yeah, exactly where the freestanding retail sign would be going. >> Got it. Okay, thank you.
>> Uh, Miss Kane Levy, >> no question. >> And Mr. Not >> I had a question uh which was in my report about the south elevation I believe >> are the two canopies adjacent to each other. >> Yeah. Are those for two different tenencies or who's going into those
doors? >> Yeah, it's this it's the same tenant. They occupy a couple of different suites within the building. Um one set of doors accesses one address at the property. The second set of doors accesses a second address that serves as their yoga
studio. So they have clientele that come to both locations based on different uses of the space. >> Okay. So the canopy sign on for the left canopy will be different than the one on the right. >> They'll be exactly the same. In fact, those were approved in the site plan application. So those canopies are
installed and exist today. >> Okay. >> We don't disagree. We just didn't come up with a better option when we were planning it out. >> All right. I don't have any questions. Uh questions from the public.
All right, seeing our only member of the public does not have one, I will close uh questions. Um any uh comments from the public? All right, seeing none, I will close public comment. Uh comments from uh the commission, Miss Floyd.
>> No, no comments. >> Mr. Juliano, >> um I don't have any comments. >> Mr. Rooney? >> No comment. >> Mr. rims. >> Uh my only comment is about the development in general, which has really turned out really great. So, it's really
>> you've changed a really difficult site and you have some looks like some good tenants there, too. So, >> yeah. And happy to report we're 100% lease now with a number of small businesses. Um, and people actually know the building exists. >> Yes. Yeah. The coffee shop, I think, helps draw people in there. >> They sure do. Yeah. Great coffee as
well. And Montlair resident who owns that business also. >> Excellent. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Mixer, >> no comment. Thank you, Miss Kane. You >> no seems like a good solution, >> Mr. Small. >> Um, maybe just to summarize my report
from way back in October, uh, to building from 1907, I think it was the former United States Printing Company warehouse. Uh it's obviously an industrial site and it's part of uh one
of the remnants of Monontlair's Walnut Street industrial area. Um early manufacturing clustered along Tony's Brook that runs into Glenn Ridge as well. Um it was developed adjacent to the railroad and it's one of those um
potential historic districts in Montlair and this one has a a bit of significance because of the the history of the paper and printing trades there um with things like the Crump Label Company and and US printing company. Now I mean overall
it's pretty um minor this this application in terms of what's being done. very little if any uh historic fabric is being altered um by this and I don't think in any way that these couple signs are going to create like a distraction or overwhelm the historic uh
building. So I think they're appropriate. >> Wonderful. I'm also supportive um and uh also want to commend you on a fine job with this site. Um >> thank you. >> Uh so with that, I don't think we have anything to vote on, right, Cindy? All right. Thank you so much.
>> Great. Thanks everyone. >> Thanks. Well, with that, we have uh no more agenda items. I want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season. Looking forward to see everyone in 2026. Uh I would make a motion to adjurnn.
>> I'll second that. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Have a wonderful holiday season. All >> right.