[Ord. No. 11-2017]
From time to time, the Commission shall recommend to the City
Council the inclusion of historic places on an Official Local Register
of Historic Places. Upon such historic designation by action of the
City Council, no major alterations or additions which are deemed to
materially change the characteristics of the historic place shall
be undertaken nor approved by any local official of the City and no
demolition of said historic place shall occur until prior approval
has been obtained from the Historic Preservation Commission.
[Ord. No. 11-2017]
Based on NJ and National Register of Historic Places Program,
the following guidelines should be used during evaluation of historic
designations:
A. Criteria: The quality of significance in American history, architecture,
archaeology, culture, and engineering is present in districts, sites,
buildings, structures, and objects that possess integrity of location,
design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association,
and;
(1) That are associated with events that have made a significant contribution
to the broad patterns of our past; or
(2) That are associated with the lives of persons significant in our
past; or
(3) That embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or
method of construction or that represent the work of a master; or
that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant
and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction;
or that have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important
in prehistory or history.
B. Age, Integrity, Criteria, and Areas of Significance.
To be eligible for listing on the New Jersey and National Registers,
a property must:
(1) Be at least 50 years old, unless it is exceptionally important;
(2) Be historically or architecturally significant on the national, state,
or local level; and
(3) Possess "integrity" from the period during which it earned its significance.
Integrity can be defined as a high degree of retention of character-defining
features that permits a property to convey a strong sense of its historic
qualities.
C. District. A district possesses a significant concentration, linkage,
or continuity of sites, buildings, structures, or objects united historically
or aesthetically by plan or physical development.
(1) Significance. A district must be significant, as well as being an
identifiable entity. It must be important for historical, architectural,
archeological, engineering, or cultural values. A district can contain
buildings, structures, sites, objects, or open spaces that do not
contribute to the significance of the district.
(2) Geographical Boundaries. A district must be a definable geographic
area that can be distinguished from surrounding properties by changes
such as density, scale, type, age, style of sites, buildings, structures,
and objects, or by documented differences in patterns of historic
development or associations.
Examples of districts include: Business districts, Residential
districts, residential areas, transportation networks, rural historic
districts, etc.
D. Building. A building, such as a house, barn, church, hotel, or similar
construction, is created principally to shelter any form of human
activity. "Building" may also be used to refer to a historically and
functionally related unit, such as a courthouse and jail or a house
and barn.
(1) If a building has lost any of its basic structural elements, it is
usually considered a "ruin" and is categorized as a site.
Examples of buildings include: Administration buildings, church,
City or town hall, courthouse, firehouse, garage, hotel, house, library,
office building, post office, school, social hall, store, train station,
etc.