April Stefel Honored at 12th Night Dinner

This year’s honoree was April Stefel, who for more than 20 years has volunteered her time and expertise for the benefit of our District. A licensed landscape architect, April designed a scheme in 1987 for planting of street trees throughout the District with varieties appropriate for each street. She supervised the purchase and planting of the trees in phases over several years as the historic district was able to raise funds for the project with revenues from house tours. This work in progress will continue with another phase upcoming in spring of 2008. The project has benefited us all not only by making our streets more attractive and enjoyable but also by raising our property values. April has also opened her home to visitors for 5 of our house tours and for many years cooked and hosted at our progressive dinners. Since 2005 April has been employed as a professional planner for the city, and in that capacity managed the Green Brook Multi-Use Trail and did the State and National Register nominations for Cedar Brook Park and Green Brook Park.

12th Night Dinner

Of course, our annual Twelfth Night Progressive Dinner is always a wonderful occasion, and this year’s, on January 12th, was spectacular! Thanks to our hosts—Barbara and Gordon Fuller, Debbie and Maurice Flynn, Vee and Joseph DeMeyer, and Holly Ferguson—and to our new Cooking Club, which organized the menu and of course to the many volunteers who contributed their time, effort, and culinary skills.

2007 Christmas Tour

Our December 9th Christmas House Tour was a smashing success, with nearly 500 people visiting 11 homes. Highlights included Christmas carols sung by area girl scouts as well as two fully-costumed Santas (Lamont Blowe and Arne Aakre) greeting neighborhood visitors, and Corona the horse provided by Vicki Blasucci for her carriage house. Our eleven homeowners and tour committee volunteers who kept up their Christmas Spirit since planning began in May did a spectacular job in pulling together this substantial event. Part of the tour proceeds were contributed to “Homefirst.” a Plainfield organization providing emergency housing and supportive services to those in need. We’re also grateful to the City for its help with security and with pre-tour street cleanup.

Chief McGhie

Caroline Ruffin and Clarence McGhie hosted the cooking club on October 25th. Clarence prepared turkey and chicken cutlets with four tasty seasoned crusts to try out.

An Old Fashioned Christmas House Tour

Sunday, December 9, 2007.
2:00pm to 7:00pm
Tickets: $25.00 per person
Prepare for a jolly time on Sunday, December 9th! The house tour committee is finalizing a roster of homes spanning two hundred years of architectural styles from 1750' to the 1950's. Homeowners will be decking the halls and the sights, aromas, and sounds of Christmas will greet you at each door. More about the house tour will follow here on our blog, including directions and advance ticket sale locations.
Anyone wishing to help by joining in on the planning will be welcome and appreciated! Next tour committee meeting: September 17, 8:00pm, 915 Madison Avenue.

Abbott Manor Court Case Update

On July 26, 2007, Union Countiy's Judge Barisonek ruled in our favor in the case brought to challenge Board of Adjustment approval of the the expansion of the Abbott Manor Nursing home. The judge gave a 1 hour and 40 minute oral decision in which he thoroughly went over the issues brought out in the transcripts of the hearings. It was obvious that he read the transcripts cover to cover. He quoted numerous statements by the expert witnesses of both sides, citing page numbers, as well as quoting from both the 2002 and 2005 Board of Adjustment’s resolutions. The Board of Adjustment's 2002 denial of the nursing home expansion will be reinstated.
Excerpts of Bill Michelson’s Summary of Judge Barisonek’s Decision
In evaluating the impact which the project would have on the historic district, I think two things influenced the Judge greatly. One is that he examined the model which showed clearly how massive it would be, as compared with surrounding properties. The other is that the other intrusions into the district (notably the 1950s-style apartments across the street), including the old Abbott Manor addition, all pre-dated the creation of the district in 1982.

The Judge believes that the Board was so overwhelmed by the federal court settlement, and Rother's threat of further litigation, that it simply lost sight of all the proper criteria for deciding the case. He blamed part of this expressly on Rother's planner, Peter Steck, who… told the Board what its obligations to the handicapped supposedly were, under the Fair Housing Act Amendments of 1988. This is because he found Mr. Steck's analysis to be utterly wrong. He therefore adopted my most basic complaint, which was that the 2005 Board members seemed to think that rejecting the project was simply not an option allowed to them, and that they had contorted their reasoning to reach an approval.

Turning then to the FHAA test under Lapid-Laurel, he found that the statute does not give the handicapped in nursing homes a right to live at a particular location, but to be able to live somewhere in town. Since Plainfield allows nursing homes and assisted living in several other zones, he found it preposterous that they should insist on a particular location that presents real problems. He found false Rother's statement that no other site in town was available, and seemed angry at it. I believe he agreed with me that the 2005 Board's citation to Hovsons but not Lapid-Laurel (those who have followed this will understand) was nothing short of intellectually dishonest. He agreed with me also that the whole point of Lapid-Laurel is that the FHAA does not trump state and local zoning law, but should be viewed in harmony with it.

The parallel issue in state zoning law is called "inherently beneficial use", and the case everyone cites is Sica. He went our way on the most basic legal point I have advanced: that since we now have historic preservation laws, being in a historic district becomes one of the "negative criteria" for applications like this, and a very big one at that. In other words, for the first time, a New Jersey court has declared the validity and importance of historic districts, and described what their effect should be on land-use applications. He even said that letting this project in would cause a "domino effect" that has to be prohibited, and stated that the Board was wrong to give so little heed to the three reports from the Historic Preservation Commission, which advised solidly against the project even as improved. In fact, the Judge went further than I did on one point: that an "inherently beneficial" use may cease to be so, at the wrong location. He therefore suggested that the Board need never have applied the four-prong Sica test or the two-part Lapid-Laurel test, as it could have ruled at the outset that the project was completely unacceptable at this location. In fact, he summed up by saying that, aside from the desirability of nursing homes, every piece of evidence and piece of testimony in the whole case was negative to CPR's application. He will enter an Order vacating the 2005 Resolution, which will have the effect of reinstating the one from 2002.

Cooking Club News

Lobster Roast
The club decided unanimously that it was Arne's turn to cook. One of his specialties is a clam & lobster roast done over an open pit fire. It will take place in the back yard of the Pillars at 922 Central Avenue on Sunday, July 22nd. More details and the cost to attend will follow in the blog and at the July 16th general meeting. We will need to know if you're coming by Wednesday, July 18th. Call Arne at 908-756-5036 or email him at arnemaakre@verizon.net to reserve your place.

Silk Road Restaurant Outing
Sixteen district members joined the VWB Cooking Club on June 28th for an outing to Silk Road, an Afgan restaurant in Warren, -orange and saffron rice, butternut squash dumplings, veal and lamb rubbed with spices, and scallion and herb stuffed steamed dumplings were sampled from the menu. Don Sobieski has become a regular customer...his recommendation: go for lunch and avoid Saturday night lines to get in. It has been observed by some that the cooking club has morphed into an eating club....