Hazlet Area Quality of Life Alliance

***** A community based non-partisan, non-profit corporation *****

P.O. Box 94, Hazlet, New Jersey 07730 ***** bayshorewatershed.org/bw/HAQLA

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Hazlet Township

Mayor DiNardo and Committee Members

1776 Union Avenue

Hazlet, New Jersey 07730

Re: Petition to establish a Historic Preservation Ordinance and Commission

                                                                                                            February 18, 2007

Mayor DiNardo and Committee Members:

On behalf of the Hazlet Area Quality of Life Alliance and the Consortium to preserve Stone Road Meadows and the Van Mater Homestead, I respectfully put forward the following petition.

Whereas, the Hazlet Township voters approved the Hazlet Township Open Space Tax referendum in November 2006, and,

Whereas the Hazlet Township Committee has recently adopted the subsequent Ordinance establishing an Open Space Trust Fund and,

Whereas, Municipal Governing Bodies are empowered to designate, zone, and regulate historic landmarks, sites and districts pursuant to Municipal Land Use Law, New Jersey Statutes Annotated, C. 40:55D-65 & 65.1, which state in part that “ The governing body may, at any time, adopt, by affirmative vote of a majority of its authorized membership, a zoning ordinance designating one or more historic sites or historic districts…..provided the reasons for the action of the governing body are set forth in a resolution and recorded in the minutes of the governing body” and,

Whereas, Municipal Governing Bodies are empowered to create and implement a Historic Preservation Commission, pursuant to New Jersey Statutes Annotated C. 40:55D-107 through 112 and,

Whereas the Hazlet Area Quality of Life Alliance has recently provided the Hazlet Township Committee with a historic narrative containing source materials footnotes, by Stephen B. Gale, Architectural Research Consultant and Member of the Society of Architectural Historians, which describes and verifies the rich and significant history of Stone Road Meadows and the Van Mater Homestead,

We, therefore, hereby, request that the Members of the Hazlet Township Committee demonstrate their unified, nonpartisan, resolve and commitment to preserve the final remnants of Hazlet Township’s, open space, conservation, recreation, historic and agricultural resources and heritage, in keeping with the purposes set forth in the Hazlet Township Open Space Trust Fund Ordinance, through the adoption of a resolution to authorize and implement an appropriate Historic Preservation Zoning Ordinance and by the addition of a related Historic Preservation Element to the Township Municipal Master Plan, for the purpose of identifying and designating specific sites and structures within Hazlet Township as historic sites, districts, and landmarks, for preservation in perpetuity, and for potential Township acquisition of such designated sites, beginning with Stone Road Meadows and the Van Mater Homestead. Furthermore, we request that the aforementioned measures be followed by the adoption of additional and separate resolutions and ordinances to authorize and implement a Historic Preservation Commission.

We believe that those of us now living in Hazlet Township and the surrounding communities, in the Western Reach of the Raritan Bayshore, have a responsibility to make every effort to preserve our vanishing legacy for the enjoyment and edification of present and future generations, and we hope that the members of the Hazlet Township Committee will come to a decision to make the swift accomplishment of this goal a top priority in 2007.

Respectfully Yours,

John M. Curran III

President

HAQLA

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