Red Bank to designate new historic district
Homes on inventory are in boro's oldest section, circa 1850s
BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer
The Red Bank Historic Preservation Commission (RBHPC) is establishing a new historic district in the residential portion of the borough.

George Bowden

The RBHPC staged a special planning meeting March 6 to review the legal issues involving the historic district application, which will be presented to the Borough Council in the coming weeks, according to Mayor Pasquale Menna.

Menna announced the RBHPC's initiative at the Feb. 27 council meeting, where he said the commission is taking an inventory of the housing stock in the borough to submit to the Historic Preservation Office of the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to seek a historic district designation.

"We thought that this is very important for the RBHPC to do such a thing at this time and this would be a living contribution in terms of future success … in an area in need of preservation," said Menna at the council meeting.

The proposed historic districtwill create a quadrant shape and include Washington Street to Spring Street, up toWallace Street and then acrossWallace toMechanic Street and Mount Street, according to RBHPC Chairman George Bowden.

Bowden said as part of the legal review process theRBHPCis trying get the historic district included in the borough's master plan, which is currently under review.

"This is the oldest part of Red Bank developed starting in about 1850," said Bowden. "The buildings in the area are recognized as distinctive historic and architectural characteristics of the area, district, civic pride and overall accomplishments of the borough's past."

He added, "We look at the architectural styles and the designs of the area and how important it is tomaintain the housing and the buildings in this district that represents the historic fabric of Red Bank."

Bowden and the RBHPC started collecting data a year ago and have logged about 1,000 man-hours compiling a historic inventory of about 108 homes to be included within the historic district.

Bowden said the inventory includes photographs of the homes, architectural surveys and a history of the buildings.

"This is not unique to Red Bank. [There are] virtually thousands of [historic districts] all over theUnited States," said Bowden. "Itmeans that it's an honor…you have historic districts all over the country and peoplewho live in those districts have a very proud basis to be honored by."

Currently the only historic district in Red Bank is the commercial historic district on Broad Street, according to Bowden.

"My personal feeling is that it would be ideal to create this district that is historic to have it within our Centennial year," said Bowden.

If the mayor and council decide to approve the RBHPC historic district proposal, the application then will be submitted to DEP for approval.

Menna said that there may be funding and grant monies available for improvements in the historic district, once it's established.

"There are grants available…that could be applied for in a historic district. That's one of the reasons why there is interest in developing it because that could open the door to apply for grant monies once it becomes the historic district," said Bowden.

Menna gave examples of improvements that could be funded with grant money in the district, such as repairing the sidewalks in the area.

The mayor also said he was grateful to the RBHPC members for volunteering to undertake the project which would have cost the borough about $50,000 to $60,000 had a professional been hired for the project.

"I think you are going to be absolutely astounded by what you see in the [inventory] and then I ask for support to submit that to theDEPso that they can provide the grantmoney as part of the grant cycle," said Menna addressing the council at the meeting.

The proposed historic district also had another historic significance, according to Bowden.

"The commercial part of Red Bank was concentrated on Broad andWhite andMonmouth [streets] but the people who ran the shops were storeowners that lived in town and thiswas the area thatmost of the shopkeepers and store owners lived {in}," said Bowden.

Regular meetings of the RBHPC are held on the fourthWednesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the fourth floor lunchroomof Borough Hall, 90 Monmouth St. The next meeting is scheduled to take placeMarch 26.