On Nov. 6, the Hoboken City Council will vote on an ordinance that would expand the city’s historic districts and add new properties to the list of historic sites.
The ordinance aims to better preserve the city’s historic resources, including buildings, streetscapes, monuments, and public sites, according to council documents.
That amendment includes the addition of more than 20 historically significant sites in the city.
According to the city, most of the additions recommended by the Historic Preservation Commission have long been identified by the State of New Jersey Office of Historic Preservation as “key contributors” to the history of the city and the historic character of the community.
Some of the additions include the Adams Square Condominiums, formerly the Daniel S. Kealy School, PS No. 2; Monroe Center buildings C & E, formerly Ferguson Brothers Manufacturing Co.; the North Hudson YMCA; Sybil’s Cave; Hoboken Free Public Library; the Neumann Leathers building at 300 Observer Highway; The Up-Town Bank of Hoboken Trust Company at 1400 Washington St.; Stevens Park; and Elysian Park.
Designation as a historic site will help assure that renovations and alterations made to the site will be done in a way that protects its historic character, according to the city.
This comes after the council introduced the ordinance at the last council meeting on Oct. 16.
New district boundaries
Under the new ordinance, the city would expand the historic district to protect Castle Point Terrace homes and additional portions of Washington Street, Hudson Street, and the railyard and terminal.
The three new districts will be called H1-0, H2-0, and H3-0 and will act as a zoning overlay.
The H1-0 district extends from 14th Street down the entire length of the west side of Washington Street and the east side of Washington Street from Seventh Street to Observer Highway. It will include the length of Court Street, one of the city’s oldest streets which spans approximately 7.5 blocks between Washington and Hudson streets from about Newark Street to Seventh Street. The street was paved with squared blocks of stone or “setts” from local quarries in the late 1800s and was built as an alley to act as a service entrance for people who lived along Hudson and Washington streets.
The H1-0 district includes a portion of Hudson Street from Second Street to Observer Highway as well as Hoboken’s Lackawanna Terminal, the NJ Transit rail yard, and four blocks next to the terminal bounded by Hudson Place, Hudson Street, Sinatra Drive, and First Street.
The H2-0 district extends from Second Street to 14th Street primarily along Hudson Street’s western side. It also includes the eastern side of Washington Street from 14th Street to Seventh Street.
Finally, the H3-0 district will encompass all of the Castle Point Terrace area from Eighth Street to 10th Street.
Properties in these districts will be subject to the Historic Preservation Commission’s oversight should the ordinance pass. That oversight only extends to the parts of the building that are visible from the public right-of-way like the façade. Building permits and demolition permits can’t be issued without the commission’s issuance of a Certificate of Appropriateness.
That means if property owners want to change the façade of their building they would have to get approval from the Historic Preservation Commission.
This includes exterior architectural features like lintels, sills, and cornices, stoops, ironwork, paint, storefronts, windows, and signage.
It does not include the building’s interior or those parts of the building that are not visible to the public.
The Historic Preservation Commission will also issue Certificates of No Effect for minor repairs or in-kind restoration of exterior elements that will have no visual, architectural, structural, or historic impact on the building, according to the ordinance.
The commission has also established a Fast Track approval process covering general maintenance, repairs, and replacement items that have little to no effect on the historic elements of a site.
Only those alterations that would impact the visual presentation of the building would trigger commission review as part of the overall approval and permitting process.
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