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Residents urge historic-preservation steps and raise frustration over bridge delay and speeding
Summary
Speakers at public comment called on the council to support a historic commission and incentives after the legal demolition of an early Bergen County stone house, while business and neighborhood residents also sought a restaurant outdoor-dining extension and protested bridge delays and speeding on Glen Gray.
Residents used the meeting's public-comment period to press the borough on preservation and quality-of-life concerns.
Eric Schaubach of 61 Loyola Place told the council that one of four early Bergen County stone houses in Oakland was recently torn down legally and urged the borough to support preservation. "A survey was done in 1982, 1983 that produced about 40 historical sites...when that survey was revisited in 1999, we lost about 10 of those," Schaubach said, and he asked the council to consider establishing a historic commission and to explore incentives to discourage demolition of privately owned historic homes.
Bernice Bozan, a part owner of Doc Watson's (20 Elm St.), said the restaurant is on the agenda seeking an extension of premises for outdoor dining; she told the council the plan would follow the existing footprint and offered to answer questions about the proposal.
Steve Pinosian of 69 Glenbury Road criticized delays on the Patriot's Way bridge and said speeding on Glen Gray has become a public-safety problem for his neighborhood. "It is inexcusable from my point of view," he said of the engineering setbacks and urged accountability and faster progress.
The mayor and council acknowledged those concerns and said they were working to resolve construction delays and would take Schaubach's preservation suggestions under advisement.
