Sad story from Asbury Park Press:Township officials are launching an investigation into why a historic building that dates back hundreds of years was torn down this week.
The building, on Route 27 in Franklin Park, was most recently home to Chauncey's Pub. Though most of the building has been demolished, a construction official issued a stop-work order at the site the morning of Thursday, Feb. 12.
"There may be some beams or posts that are salvageable," said Township Manager Ken Daly. "We'll have to send in some people with historic expertise."
Daly said he is conducting an investigation into the circumstances leading up to the demolition done Wednesday, Feb. 11. Daly said the building's new owner, Nitin Khandwala of Livingston, put the wrong address on the application to demolish the structure, leading to an approval by a zoning official. Daly said Khandwala, who is part owner of the nearby Liquor King, wants to build a series of stores and restaurants in the area. A telephone number for Khandwala led to a pharmacy in North Jersey, but Khandwala could not be reached for comment.
"The zoning official thought he was approving demolition for a different address," Daly said. "That's why the permit did not go to the historic preservation commission as it was supposed to."
9 comments:
New Jersey - land of idiots and Joisy boys.......... A cesspool
New Jersey where this accidentally happens, in Queens, Columbia Jouralism school would have a class write that its a good thing.
Would not knock NJ.
This looks like St Saviours where the vandalism was intential (with the help of boro hall in league with the mainline preservation community in Manhattan)
yeah, nj's got its problems but this sounds like something that would happen in NYC w. the lack of oversight from DOB as to what is actually happening on the streets.
anyway, the solution is to give him a huge fine and not allow him to build his strip mall.
"Accidental" -I think not.
Look at the facts here. When the property was sold the new owner received documents of ownership which would (in most cases) include landmark status, if any.
Also, the previous owner would have likely mentioned this fact at some point.
More than a case of incompetence by town officials, you have a tricky developer.
Nothing new here.
Maybe when they bring in the "people with historic expertise," they'll realize the building couldn't possibly be "hundreds of years" old.
That's a pile of concrete blocks in the photo.
So what? NYC is the only municipality that uses "alterations" as an excuse to not designate historic sites.
"Maybe when they bring in the "people with historic expertise," they'll realize the building couldn't possibly be "hundreds of years" old.
That's a pile of concrete blocks in the photo."
Read the article in the link.
I don't think it was an accident. I think someone wanted that building torn down to replace it with something financially beneficial and people got paid to make sure it happened.
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