June 2019 www.readingtonnews.com
The
Readington News A Community Newspaper
Serving All of Readington Township, NJ
Historic Preservation Projects Praised
At the Readington Township Committee meeting on May 20, the Township Committee, together with the Historic Preservation Commission, recognized three recently completed projects to restore and renovate historic structures in the township. “National Historic Preservation Month” takes place in May. Ralph Finelli Architect LLC received an Excellence in Preservation award for renovation to the windows of the historic Stanton General Store, now home to the Stanton Italian Table, located on the corner of Stanton Mountain Road and CR 629 in the Stanton Historic District. The property was originally built in the 1840s and is a contributing property to the village’s listing on the New Jersey and National Registers of
Historic Places. Finelli replaced the 20th century fixed transom windows on the Stanton Mountain Road façade with double hung windows similar to the design seen in earlier photos of the building. The iconic Stanton General Store Sign was installed to the left of the new window installation. Gerard Busch and Michael Vollrath also received an Excellence in Preservation Award for the restoration of the Abraham Van Horn House in the Whitehouse Station local historic district. The structure was built in 1757 and is listed on Township Master Plan Sites of Historic Interest. Busch and Vollrath replaced a 1980s sunroom with an enclosure that matched the house’s original mudroom addition. Bayron Mendez & Merari Cas-
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tanon received a Spirit of Preservation Award for their efforts to save their contributing structure in the Whitehouse Mechanicsville National Register Historic District. Mendez and Castanon expended significant amounts of time and energy to preserve the original structure, but years of neglect by previous owners necessitated the construction of a new building whose design is sympathetic to this National Register District. National Historic Preservation Month has been sponsored annually by the National Trust for His- From left are Merari Castanon, Bayron Mendez, Gerard Busch, Michael toric Preservation since 1973 to Vollrath, Vito Marinelli, owner of the Stanton General Store who accepted for raise awareness about the power Ralph Finelli, and Mayor Betty Ann Fort. historic preservation has to protect and enhance historic communities. Primary Election Day is June General Assembly seats are Mark –Submitted by Pat Fisher-Olsen 4 with candidates seeking their Caliguire, Christine Madrid, and party’s nominations for Reading- Roger Forest Locandro. Demoton Township Committee as well crats are Andrew Zwicker and Roy woodlands, not to mention agri- as General Assembly, Sheriff, and Freiman. Running for Sheriff are cultural and societal impacts such Board of Chosen Freeholders. Republican Frederick W. Brown as car/deer crashes,” said Mayor Running unopposed are incum- and Democrat Dominick Puzio. Betty Ann Fort. bent Mayor Betty Ann Fort, Repub- Freeholder candidates for 2 threeIndividual hunters must be resi- lican, and Denise Esakoff, Demo- year terms are Republicans John dents of Readington Township, be crat, for one three-year term on the E. Lanza and Zachary T. Rich and at least 18 years of age, provide Readington Township Committee. Democrats Savet Rosenblum and $1M liability insurance, have a They will compete for the seat in Natalie Ferry. valid NJ hunting license (either for the General Election in November. Polls will be open between 6 a.m. bow or for everything), and pass a Republicans seeking 2 two-year and 8 p.m. background check. Interested residents can obtain an application package from the Municipal Clerk’s Office or on the Disposal of Household Junk township’s website https://www. readingtontwpnj.gov/. There is a and Construction Debris $100 non-refundable fee to be submitted with the application. If there Fast Service • 7 Days A Week are more applications than spaces Dumpster Rentals available, a lottery will be held to determine who gets permits and Extreme Cleaning & Organizing to determine which property is asTree Stump Removal signed to each participant. Initially, there will be four township-owned Wood Chipper Service properties included in the program as part of the pilot phase of the program. All applications are due by 4:30 p.m. on June 12.
Readington News A Community Newspaper
Serving All of Readington Township, NJ
Primary Election is June 4
Bow-Hunting Coming
The Township Committee, working with the Environmental Commission and the Wildlife Advisory Subcommittee, has approved a pilot Deer Management Program for the upcoming 20192020 hunting season. The new individual permit program, which will be for bow hunting only, will augment the existing hunting club lease program. The purpose is to manage whitetail deer populations on Readington Township-owned Aquabot Rover–Piper properties at safe levels and proDoyle, 12, and John Brereton, 13, vide recreational and educational members of the Hunterdon County opportunities as well as optimiz4-H Robotics Club, are pictured with ing opportunity for maintaining “Aquabot,” a robot that rolled along and preserving a healthy woodthe gravel paths at the Red Dog Day land habitat. event May 4 at the Readington River A recent deer survey conducted Buffalo Farm, dispensing cold water by Raritan Valley Community bottles. Aquabot was built by the College found that Readington Robostorm 4-H Robotics Club and Township has a deer population programmed to move, accept a dollar of 135 deer per square mile. The bill in a cash machine, and dispense a benchmark for ecological health water bottle. (For details visit https:// is 10 deer per square mile, “so a robostorm.org/projects/aquabot/.) town-wide population of Read–Submitted by Scarlett Doyle ington’s magnitude is catastrophic for the ecological integrity of our
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