Open letter to the members of the state of New Jersey Senate and Assembly

Assembly Bill 2697/Senate Bill 1584 are the most dangerous threats to historic preservation in recent memory because they establish a new criteria for continued property tax exemption eligibility for nonprofit organizations. This new criteria will result in the loss of many important pieces of New Jersey’s history.

Since 1921, the Woman’s Club of Red Bank has owned the Sen. Anthony B. Reckless Estate, a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The estate achieved landmark status because Anthony Reckless — a businessman responsible for the establishment of Red Bank’s commercial center — was president of the New Jersey State Senate, one of the entities that now threatens the continued preservation of his home.

The Woman’s Club is not organized for the purpose of historical research. We are a community service organization, currently assisting the Red Bank Board of Education in a program to prepare parents and children for preschool, raising monies for college scholarships, aiding families in need, and acting as a resource for minority (female) owned businesses, who just happen to own, and love, this incredible landmark building.

By the mid 1990s, the club’s membership declined to a handful of individuals, an unfortunate occurrence for Woman’s Clubs throughout the state due in part to our aging population. A serious threat existed with a developer wanting to acquire, and destroy, our landmark. Efforts to increase membership and a change in club officers saved the house at the 11th hour. The goal to preserve the building became paramount in our activities. Presently, we are actively engaged in a multiphase preservation plan using club resources, donations and grants from Monmouth County and the state of New Jersey.

The Sen. Anthony B. Reckless Estate and our preservation efforts will be endangered should this bill pass and be signed into law. The stated criteria for continued property tax exemption eligibility is extremely subjective and open to a multitude of interpretations and court challenges. Further, the Woman’s Club is not currently classified for property tax exemption purposes as an historical organization.

Therefore, continued eligibility would need to be determined on an annual basis, resulting in an increased opportunity for inconsistent application of the criteria by the certifying authorities.

In addition, volunteer organizations like ours will find the open access standard — a minimum of 96 days — impossible. While our building is open to all peoples many times throughout the year with club-sponsored activities, and we share our building with many community organizations, the club could never meet the 96-day requirement. In the end, the loss of our house will also impact many other local organizations. The stated procedures for obtaining an open access exception are draconian, requiring three different and disparate entities to agree to the exception on an annual basis.

Those local to the Red Bank area know there is a daily struggle to save the town’s historic buildings, charm and character. We know the challenge on the local level, but we never expected a frontal assault from the legislators. Since our club resources are limited and insufficient to bear the burden of annual property taxes, the building would have to be sold. Given its location, it would certainly be destroyed for commercial development. Property tax reform is long overdue in this state; however, starting with the places most vulnerable — like historic sites preserved by nonprofit organizations — is a coward’s approach.

Like all affected groups, we are astonished and angered about the lack of regard from our legislators for the affected buildings and organizations. We have had no prior contact concerning this bill from anyone. We were afforded no opportunity to respond to the proposal. We were afforded no opportunity to educate the legislators about the true impact of this bill. We are very disheartened our legislators have demonstrated a lack of understanding for our collective preservation efforts. Karl Werner’s opinion piece in a local daily newspaper was our only information about this bill, and we are grateful to have learned of it before it can be signed rather than after the fact. That prospect is even more horrifying than the present situation.

Fortunately, the representatives for the 12th legislative district, Sen. Ellen Karcher, and Assemblymen Dr. Robert Morgan and Michael Panter are willing to meet with the Woman’s Club of Red Bank to discuss the bills and the threat to preservation faced by historic properties such as the Sen. Anthony B. Reckless Estate. We hope the representatives for the other 49 endangered properties will be given similar opportunities to voice their concerns, even at this 11th hour.

We ask all representatives of the state of New Jersey to carefully consider these bills which we regard as ineffective legislation. The ultimate cost in the loss of many historic sites is so great that we ask you please reconsider the true and total impact before the final vote.

We ask you to vote a resounding “no.”

Ellen Davis and Mary Gilligan are members of the preservation committee of the Woman’s Club of Red Bank