West Milfords proposed Historic District ?

Do you see anything that historic looking in these pictures?

Yes - The area does have a certain appeal as noted by Mr. Bill Drew, and agreed on by most people who see the area.

But...

• Does this area need to be designated? A process that will strip property owners of their rights.
• If this area is designated who will make the rules?
• What happens when an issue comes up that falls in a Grey Area? - Will it turn into yet another one of West Milford Court battles and stain local resources? 

This is a picture of a gas station contamination in the heart of the "Historic District".

Those of you who have been in town know that this has been here for 20+ years.

What you may not have known is the amount of contamination it released and that some properties in the district have to deal with theses issues.

Also effected are parts of Pinecliff Lake.

Is the town involved in this issue? - No!

Do you know...

• The Township could have purchased this property for approx $ 80,000.00 only 6 years ago.
• This could have made great municipal parking lot (did you ever try to park in Town Hall during the day to do business?)
• This may have been a small walking park. Maybe the park could have had a statue recognizing history.

Maybe a monument to our fallen veterans who shed their blood so I can own my own property in a free society.

In my opinion this shows a lack of effort and knowledge on the part of our elected officials and shows their neglect of the downtown area.

Now they want to try and look like the hero's (My hero's died on 9-11)   

These are 2 pictures of my home.

The first is the condition Mr. Vanhookers family sold it to me in.

The second is a current picture of my active $50,000.00 exterior renovation. (the one the town couldn't help me with)

I hope you can see...

• I cared enough to make this downtown property look good for West Milford.
• All the good that currently exists downtown is because of the property owners, West Milford has not helped at all. (But Passaic County did!)

West Milford Twp doesn't does not give the indication to me that they truly care about "Curb Appeal".

If they did why don't we have curbs and sidewalks?

You don't need a historic designation to put in a side walk. Especially since there were no sidewalks back then anyway!

Below is a picture of Town Hall, which will be included in the Historic District.

What do you think will happen as the town grows...

• Will the town follow the rules set in place or will they be exempt due to some unknown law?
• Should the taxpayers of West Milford be burdened with extra cost to follow historic rules to build a new town hall if ever required?
• Will a historic designation restrict the proper growth for the future to meet the needs of West Milford generations to come?
• Check out the tower in the back, now that is historic (what's that Mr. Vanhooker circa 2005?)

Some other questions that I would like answered are: 

What a Historic Designation will do to enhance the downtown area, that has not already been accomplished by the property owners?

What will a Historic Designation do to enhance curb appeal that a sidewalk can not?

Please explain to me why after 6 years the only thing West Milford can come up with to enhance the downtown is to steal the rights of property owners and make business and progress more expensive in West Milford?

I hope all people reading this realize this is yet another effort of a local government to try and control its people.

What's Next Eminent Domain? 

God Bless America!