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Department of Community Affairs
Department of Environmental Protection
Secretary of State
The State Plan
The Historic Property Reinvestment Act
Department of Community Affairs
The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) administers two programs involved in historic preservation: Main Street New Jersey, and the New Jersey Historic Trust.
Main Street New Jersey is a downtown revitalization program that focuses on the historic and economic redevelopment of New Jersey's traditional business districts. Every two years, DCA accepts applications and designates selected communities to join the program; the communities receive technical assistance including small business development training, design and architectural assistance, and training on marketing, business recruitment, and historic preservation.
The New Jersey Historic Trust was created by the state in 1967 as a not-for-profit organization to provide financial support of historically significant resources to administering organizations throughout the Garden State. The fifteen-member board governs the Trust and is appointed by the governor. The Trust provides financial support, protection and technical assistance through six programs.
The Trust has created a State History Plan, a document that builds on recommendations that the Task Force for New Jersey History made to the Governor in 1997. The plan lays the groundwork and provides guidelines for specific action to direct public policy. The Plan calls on the State to, among other things:
- Protect and preserve all state-owned historic structures and sites.
- Fund an historic structures report and master plan of all state-owned historic sites.
- Protect and promote the preservation of county, local and private non-profit historic sites, structures and cemeteries by continuing to increase operating, program, and capital support of the grant programs administered by the Historical Commission, the Historic Trust (through the Garden State Preservation Trust Fund), and the Cultural Trust.
- Protect and preserve all significant archeological sites and all other historic structures and sites on public lands and lands acquired through Green Acres, Open Space and other such programs.
- Encourage historic preservation through tax and other incentives for property owners, downtown districts, and businesses.
- Encourage local governments to adopt historic preservation ordinances and create historic commissions.
- Expand existing programs to include historic preservation as a criterion for grant and/or loan funding when the project includes, or may cause impact on, historically significant buildings, structures or landscapes.
Department of Environmental Protection
The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) administers the State Historic Preservation Office (HPO), which is located within the Division of Parks and Forestry. Every state has an HPO; under federal law, HPOs are required to, among other things, maintain a statewide survey and inventory of the state's historic resources; nominate significant historic resources to the National and New Jersey Register of Historic Places; foster local historic preservation programs and provide assistance with the creation of local preservation ordinances; provide funds for preservation; comment on projects under consideration for the federal historic preservation tax incentive; review all federal projects for their impact on historic properties; and provide technical assistance on rehabilitation projects and other preservation activities to federal agencies, state and local governments, and the private sector.
New Jersey's HPO has developed a statewide Historic Preservation Plan, New Jersey Partners for Preservation: A Blueprint for Building Historic Preservation into New Jersey's Future 2002 - 2007. The study provides direction to state, county, and local government agencies and to private organizations and individuals in their efforts to protect and to preserve New Jersey's history. Read the complete plan: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/hpo/4sustain/njhpp2002_low.pdf
Secretary of State
The Secretary of State's office runs the New Jersey Historic Commission. Established by law in 1967, its mission is to advance public knowledge of New Jersey's history through grants, research, and education. Its grant program offers general operating support for museums, historical societies, historic sites, archives, libraries, and similar organizations; and project support for specific projects relating to New Jersey history, including research and conservation initiatives.
The State Plan
The State Development and Redevelopment Plan's intent is to manage and shape new growth and encourage development in urban areas and compact centers. Historic preservation, particularly of structures in New Jersey's older communities, is an important component of this goal.
According to the State Plan, its purpose is to: "Coordinate planning activities and establish Statewide planning objectives in the following areas: land use, housing, economic development, transportation, natural resource conservation, agriculture and farmland retention, recreation, urban and suburban redevelopment, historic preservation, public facilities and services, and intergovernmental coordination."
However, to date, there are no historic preservation-specific objectives in the Plan. In fact, there is only one sentence in the entire Plan that even mentions historic resources.
The Historic Property Reinvestment Act
A number of states offer tax credit programs that encourage historic preservation. In New Jersey, a bill that would do just that - the Historic Property Reinvestment Act - has been introduced in the Legislature but not yet passed into law. The Act would provide homeowners and corporations with an economic incentive to help revitalize older neighborhoods and re-use historic structures by providing a state tax credit for their rehabilitation. The bill would allow a credit of 25 percent of the costs of a completed rehabilitation. The Historic Property Reinvestment Act could help restore properties and property values in blighted neighborhoods, increase local tax revenues, rebuild existing communities, reduce the use of open lands, and generate tax revenues.
The state of Maryland offers a similar tax credit program that has been enormously successful as both a historic preservation tool and an economic development tool. It has generated approximately $400 million in private investment for completed projects certified since 1997, and generates an average rate of return to the state of approximately $1.02 for each dollar of the tax credit amount the first year the tax credit is taken, and an average of $3.31 on the dollar for years two through five.
For more information on Maryland's program, visit the Maryland Historical Trust: http://www.marylandhistoricaltrust.net/taxcr.html
For information on tax credit programs in other states, visit the National Trust for Historic Preservation: http://www.nationaltrust.org/help/taxincentives.pdf