Good evening everyone. The rep planning board will come to order this 12th day of November. The time is 7:04 p.m. Notice this meeting is being held in accordance with the public laws 1975 chapter 231. An adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a notice sent to the Asbury Park Press and the
Two River Times as well as being posted in the main lobby of this building and the municipal website. Can we have a roll call, please? Mayor Portman absent. Rick Fitzgerald absent. Christina Bonitakus >> here. >> Muso >> here. >> Lou Dementoto
>> here. >> Boz here. >> Okay. >> Megan Massie absent. Wilson Davy absent. It Hernandez >> here. >> Fried Stone >> here. >> And Brian Farnigan >> here. >> Thank you. We have the administrative matters which
are the regular meeting minutes of September 10th. Does anyone have any additions or comments regarding the minutes? Seeing none, would someone like to make a motion to approve said minutes?
>> No. So move. >> Do we have a second? Second. >> All in favor? All in favor? I the enthusiasm tonight. >> Great enthusiasm everyone. Um,
>> okay. We have one public hearing. We have the historic preservation commission design guidelines presentation. >> Stephen Smalling. >> Stephen, good evening and welcome virtually to the board. Um, tell us about the plan. We've had it for several
weeks and I'll admit I did not read every page. I read a little more than half of it. I like the pictures very much, but Stephen, it's all you. >> Great. Um, good evening everyone. Thank you for accommodating me over Zoom. Can
you see my screen? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, I have a brief presentation just to share with you all on very exciting project that the Historic Preservation Commission has been working on for the past couple months. Um, it's
the historic design guidelines. This was a project uh funded by a grant by the New Jersey Historic Trust and we kicked off this project way back in May. And over the course of the
summer, I did research and was working with a subcommittee uh composed of members of the HPC, a representative of the River Center from the business community and also um Shauna was was
very instrumental in this project as well. And and we've been developing iterative drafts. the HPC just 20 minutes ago um accepted uh the the copy that's in front of you. So they're they're comfortable advancing this
further. And tomorrow evening I'll be making a presentation uh predominantly to homeowners at the library on these design guidelines. Um that is the focus of of this presentation tonight. There is another part to my project which are which is
architectural surveys and those are building by building historic and architectural descriptions and that's confined to the broad street or design overlay um district and that's in progress and should be wrapped up by the
end of the year. So, the project started, of course, by going back to the master plan that you all adopted back in February of 2023. Um, from that, we have the official um map of the two locally designated
historic districts, Broad Street and and Washington Street. and the design guidelines were primarily written to respond to those two local uh districts, but of course they're flexible to to adapt if if additional districts or
sites are um designated in the future. I also went back to the historic preservation plan element referenced in the master plan and that's from back in 2009. So design guidelines um do provide
upfront guidance to property owners. They are not building code. They do advance the historic character of your two historic districts. They do that by prioritizing design considerations.
Um they do not design guidelines regulate the density, location of development. That's that's your job. That's the planning board. and and design guidelines also do not improve property maintenance. You have separate
local ordinances that handle that. And also the HPC does not review anything on the inside of the building. So the design guidelines are only speaking to the exterior. Any questions so far?
Okay. Um the guidelines are divided into five sections. Uh there's an introductory section which includes a basic map of the two locally designated historic districts. There's a more detailed map in the
appendy with all the block and lot numbers. Um shown on page eight of the introduction is a sort of flowchart for how development applications are reviewed which ends up typically with an advisory report to the planning board
and then also the slightly different process for how a demolition permit would be obtained from the HPC. After that section is the design guidelines and I just have a couple excerpts from those. So they start at
the top of the building with roofs u materiality. So the preservation of the few remaining slate roofs or um cedar shingle roofs is a priority. But then the guidelines are very flexible on
allowing for composite um materials that maybe look like slate, look like wood shingle to be used in historically appropriate places. So, we're definitely not with these design guidelines pushing people back to how the building looked
exactly in the 1800s. I think they're very um realistic in that regard. Exterior cladding is also covered in the design guidelines. So, again, this deals a lot with appropriate materiality um
for exterior cladding. There's examples throughout of appropriate exemplary projects in Redbank and some uh that are are not so appropriate and and there's a description as to why that is.
Windows is covered. That's a major topic for the HPC. Um we're definitely not forcing everybody to use expensive bespoke wood windows. Um, in scenarios where people have wood windows, it would
be great if they repaired them or considered replacing them with wood windows. However, there's always an opportunity um with high quality composits that are available today to use that instead, provided that the
profile, dimensions, and appearance are all compatible. the storefront section. Um so this deals with your Broad Street, Mammoth Street um areas um was subject to a lot of discussion um between the HPC and the
River Center. I think we got to a really good place on this section which is good because the HPC reviews a lot of storefronts. So I think this section will be very um helpful to them. It's, I think, important here to flag that the
HPC does um encourage adaptive reuse of storefronts and they're again not necessarily always pushing people back to how the storefront looked at the turn of the 20th century. there is an opportunity in many um instances
especially where it's a newer modernized storefront uh to do something um that's that's clearly modern um but appropriate and compatible with the context. The last two sections of the design
guidelines are on additions. So, people putting a side or or rear yard um addition on their house along Washington Street, for example, is covered in this section. Uh there's diagrams of appropriate and inappropriate
um design solutions for different types of additions here. And then the last section is about new construction in the historic district and the importance of uh the use of highquality materials, a compatible
design and not necessarily ever mimicking historic um features which is which is typically considered to be um inappropriate and also um more often than not somewhat tacky.
So, I think um I'm not sure if formal action is being taken tonight, but when eventually it is, I just wanted to point out that um the New Jersey municipal land use law provides for HPC's to adopt uh design guidelines. So, we're
certainly following that. I think also this project is satisfying a lot of different goals of your recent master plan including uh the preservation of the Red Banks historic character
contextsensitive redevelopment. Um, I think design standards like I implemented as a volunteer on the Hoboken HPC have really helped to streamline and um, increase the the predictability of an HPC and how it
reviews applications. And I think you'll see similar benefits in Redbank. Um, and I think also that the design guidelines advance numerous um, goals of the historic preservation plan element,
which I think also referenced design guidelines being necessary in Redbank going all the way back to like the 1980s or something. So, this is a longstanding um, objective of the burough and I think this this project met that which is great.
Um, so in summary, the design guidelines I feel and I hope you find as well are consistent with the goals and objectives of your master plan and the historic preservation plan element. They preserve historic character, promote compatible
design, and advance um many other master plan objectives. And I think that is all I had. And if you had any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. >> Thank you. Does anyone from the board have any questions? >> I do.
>> Sure. Right into the mic. >> Well, I have to reach it and be able to turn it on. >> It's stuck. >> That sounds like a you problem. >> Um, now I'm >> a little befuddled. >> Oh, I don't know whether the Never mind.
Um, did I misunderstand what gentleman was saying when he was talking about um, demolition that the HPC was going to be the ones in charge of deciding what was could be demolished and what could not?
>> That's what he said. >> His words were that um, something to the effect that the HPC that demolition would have to be approved by HPC. they are one of the entities that signs off on it. So it's a
if you look on the Stephen, can you pull up the um >> the >> I must skimmed over >> order of um of the processes for applications that slide there. >> Yes.
So, prior to a building being demolished, um I know you can't really see it, but I can. >> No, I can't. >> So, um first it will go the application will submit a a application a development permit application for
development uh for demolition >> to um planning and zoning department. Then it will be sent to the historic preservation commission as the first step and then planning board has the last say on whether or not a building can be demolished.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> But that was also created within the historic preservation ordinance itself that new update that was recently. Does anyone from the public have any questions or comments regarding the
report? We don't we we have this has not been sent to us by the mayor and council yet for formal action. So really this is just an opportunity for everybody to review the plan if you have any questions or comments. I thought it was
incredibly well done. Um, and uh, I'm a big fan of it, providing I don't live in that district, which I don't. Um, if no one else from the public or the board have any questions or comments,
we're going to leave it at that until it's officially sent to us for review by the mayor and council, which I assume will be soon, I hope. [Music] And that's it, unless anyone else has any comments or questions.
I told my wife I'd be home by 7:15, so I'm already late. Um, we have a motion to adjourn from anyone. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Second.
>> All in favor of going home? >> I >> thank you for coming everyone. Thanks.