[Previous] [Main Index] [Next]

"Recycling Buildings - February 11, 2002"

Saving Place

A column by Pat Huizing
Executive Director
Preservation New Jersey
FIRST ISSUE, February 11, 2002

So why don't we extend this same logic to buildings? I once received a letter from a government official which stated that several publicly-owned buildings we were asking to be preserved "are targeted for demolition primarily because they present a significant safety hazard...they have been rented out on a week-to-week basis primarily to drug dealers and prostitutes." So throw out the building? Is the building responsible for a larger social problem or its own ongoing maintenance?

Let's take my analogy a step further. Suppose you decide that you really do have to get rid of your refrigerator. It still works, but it just does not meet your needs. It is too small or you need more features. Again, is your first thought to throw it away? Probably not. You may sell it to your neighbor or donate it to the church. Refrigerators cannot just be thrown away easily. Well, buildings are even harder to throw away and they take up a lot of room in landfills.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We all know this environmental slogan. But, for some reason we do not regularly apply it to architecture. Instead, we are abandoning older neighborhoods, allowing them to become targets for the wrecking ball funded by public demolition dollars, in exchange for "carburbs" and look-alike commercial centers. Roughly 45% of New Jersey's dwellings were built before 1959. In urban areas that percentage is considerably higher - a ratio of two out of three in Newark for example. The nationally acclaimed but under publicized 1998 New Jersey Rehabilitation Subcode makes the rehabilitation of existing buildings an economically viable alternative to replacement or abandonment.

The recycling of buildings should play a critical role in our effort to preserve the natural environment and to limit sprawl. By valuing these resources and reusing them, we can reduce the need to consume precious open space, natural resources and farmland, reuse old homes in ways that address affordable housing problems, and recycle buildings once designated for other purposes through creative private/public partnerships that find new uses for obsolete structures. By reclaiming older neighborhoods, we are protecting generations worth of public and private investment in existing infrastructure, we are providing alternatives to the suburban living model, and we are creating economic development and heritage tourism opportunities to faltering communities throughout the state. It is also an environmentally responsible and sustainable activity.

In his candidacy letter to Preservation New Jersey, Governor McGreevey states, "I will curb sprawl by enforcing the State Plan, which provides a blueprint for spurring economic growth, while preserving New Jersey's human, environmental, cultural, historical, and social resources. In accordance with the State Plan, I will preserve open space, revitalize existing communities, make the right infrastructure investments, and empower towns to manage growth."

We need strong leadership from the State in order to curb sprawl and protect our existing communities. The Department of Community Affairs houses a myriad of seeming disconnected programs - including a revolving demolition loan fund, community block grants, and downtown revitalization programs - all designed to address the issue of community revitalization. Not only do these programs often work in isolation from each other, they often conflict with county and local programs. The Governor's newly formed inter-departmental Smart Growth Policy Council could be the catalyst for streamlining the current maze of programs and achieving truly sustainable growth in New Jersey. Let's hold the Governor to his promises and stop throwing New Jersey's communities away. It's just common sense.