Title:  New Jersey Partners for Preservation: A Blueprint for Building Historic Preservation into New Jersey's Future, 2002-2007

New Jersey Preservation Plan

Contact Information:

Terry Karschner
Historic Preservation Office
CN-404, 501 East State Street
Trenton, New Jersey 08625
(609) 292-2028
fax (609) 292-8115
E-mail:  tkarschn@dep.state.nj.us
Web:  www.state.nj.us/dep/hpo/4sustain/njhpp.htm

Mission/Vision Statement:
New Jersey Partners for Preservation offers a vision of historic preservation as:

• A broad, inclusive movement that identifies and interprets sites and events associated with all people who have contributed to making New Jersey what it is today;
• An essential tool for revitalizing our towns and cities and preserving our countryside;
• An important source of jobs, income and tax revenues;
• An important way to understand how diverse peoples and cultures have come together to create the society we know today; and
• A source of identity and continuity as we move forward into the future.

Table of Contents:

Executive Summary
A New Vision for Historic Preservation in New Jersey
What We Are Trying to Preserve
A Spotlight on Success
Realizing the Vision [Goals]
How You Can Help
New Jersey Historic Preservation Community
Bibliography
Photo Credits
Appendix A. Historic Preservation Legislation
Appendix B. New Jersey State Development & Redevelopment Plan
Appendix C. Speak Out Summary

PLAN DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES
Public Participation Strategies:

• Convened an Advisory Committee that included representatives from state and local governments and private and non-profit organizations interested in preservation to help develop the plan;
• Advisory Committee met three times, and set visions and goals, identified ways to link preservation to other major initiatives, and provided advice about plan implementation;
• Public opinion questionnaire circulated;
• Four public meetings;
• One meeting with representatives interested in revitalizing urban areas.

HISTORIC AND CULTURAL RESOURCES
Historic houses, main streets, neighborhoods, farms and industrial sites that give communities their distinctive character and identity; archaeological sites; stories; historic places; landscapes; historic buildings; historic, cultural, and scenic resources; George Washington's 1779-1780 headquarters; Gustav Stickley's Craftsman Farms; 1843 utopian community near Red Bank; shore communities; agricultural heritage; Dutch barns; Whitesbog Village cranberry agriculture; Revolutionary War battlefields at Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth; historic parks, cemeteries, gardens, and form designed landscapes; transportation systems, including roads, steamboats, railroads, and canals; industrial complexes, such as Roebling in Trenton, New York Shipbuilding in Camden, Edison Storage and Battery in West Orange, and Rogers Locomotive building in Paterson; public buildings, including the State House, Boxwood Hall, Hunterdon County Arts Center, city halls, county courthouses, schools; archaeological sites, such as Native American communities, residences, and activity areas, and historic period communities, farmsteads, industrial properties, and underwater maritime sites; 20th-century resources, such as automobile suburbs, movie theaters, diners, drive-in restaurants, resort hotels, airports; churches; historic districts; community centers and meeting halls.

ISSUES, THREATS, & OPPORTUNITIES

• Majority of archaeological sites are yet to be identified;
• New Jersey State Development and Redevelopment Plan adopted in 2001 promotes preservation of historic, cultural, and scenic resources;
• Garden State Preservation Trust Fund supports open space acquisition and historic preservation;
• New Jersey Rehabilitation Sub-Code facilitates renovation of historic buildings;
• Operating support grants for history-related non-profits;
• TEA-21 enhancement funds provide federal dollars to preservation projects;
• Certified Local Government Program supports local government preservation programs, but few local communities participate;
• Majority of local communities lack preservation plans or ordinances;
• More comprehensive approach needed to identifying and designating historic properties;
• Regional planning and preservation initiatives offer potential to local communities;
• Support for preservation in Municipal Land Use Law should be strengthened;
• Demographic and population shifts from rural to urban areas;
• Center cities abandoned as residents and businesses moved to growing suburbs;
• Farmland and open space converted to automobile-dependent residential neighborhoods;
• Information technology, business services, and travel and tourism activities reduced economic importance of traditional manufacturing;
• Main Street programs and other preservation activities play important role in community revitalization;
• Benefits from growth in heritage tourism not fully realized;
• Increase in Hispanic and Asian population whose heritage does not lie in New Jersey;
• More needs to be done to educate the full breadth of the state's population about its history and historic places;
• Interpretation at historic sites has ignored parts of history and left many stories untold;
• Need to target local officials for outreach;
• New university certificate program in historic preservation;
• Many public facilities and historic resources have been neglected and are in disrepair;
• Comprehensive inventory of state-owned historic sites lacking;
• Need for public property rehabilitation exceeds available funding;
• Need for additional public and private investment and new financial incentives for preservation.

1. Make historic preservation an integral part of local and regional planning and decision-making to enhance the attractiveness and quality of life in New Jersey communities.
2. Use historic preservation as a catalyst to strengthen New Jersey's state and local economies.
3. Expand understanding and appreciation of history and historic preservation among New Jersey citizens, elected officials, students, and organizations across the state.
4. Become a national leader in stewardship of publicly owned historic and cultural resources.
5. Provide the financial resources and incentives necessary to advance historic preservation in New Jersey.

1. Integrate preservation into planning.
   • Increase number of local plans containing preservation elements;
   • Conduct historic resource surveys;
   • Expand local government participation in CLG program;
   • Incorporate preservation into regional planning goals;
   • Modify Municipal Land Use Law to provide preservation tools to local communities.
2. Preservation as catalyst to strengthen economies.
   • Increase number of Main Street communities;
   • Build on heritage tourism opportunities;
   • Promote urban redevelopment approaches that are sensitive to historic character;
   • Increase use of Rehabilitation Subcode;
   • Sustain efforts to make preservation regulatory review processes more efficient.
3. Expand understanding and appreciation.
   • Increase visibility of historic preservation;
   • Expand interpretation at historic sites;
   • Build statewide preservation network;
   • Offer conferences, workshops, and training materials;
   • Include preservation component in state's core curriculum standards;
   • Nurture development of future preservation professionals;
   • Strengthen cooperation among state agencies and preservation organizations.
4. National leader in stewardship of public sites.
   • Inventory state-owned properties and strategies for their preservation and use;
   • Protect public properties at local level;
   • Stabilize and restore buildings on New Jersey side of Ellis Island;
   • Develop public-private partnership models.
5. Financial resources and incentives.
   • Expand funding and economic incentives;
   • Develop state-level incentives for commercial & residential property rehabilitation;
   • Encourage local financial incentives;
   • Provide funding to support integrating statewide historic resources inventory into GIS;
   • Support preservation planning and technical assistance at local level;
   • Identify dedicated revenue sources for state-owned properties;
   • Identify stable funding source to enhance interpretation and privately owned sites.

FEATURES OF NOTE:
Appendix B links the Historic Preservation Plan to the New Jersey State Development and Redevelopment Plan, revised and adopted on March 1, 2001, by providing excerpts related to historic preservation.