demolition

The couple suing the township to reverse a Zoning Board and Historic Preservation Commission denial for a total demolition permit for their home at 109 Union St. have dropped their case.

Maple Avenue structure deemed not worth preserving.

Attorney: Demo law violates the basic tenets of real property law, must be declared invalid, illegal

Montclair’s Historic Preservation has denied a couple’s request to demolish their Union Street home, which has become ridden with asbestos and red-tagged by the township as uninhabitable. 

Montclair’s Historic Preservation Commission has approved the demolition of a home at 13 Wheeler St. — the first razing the commission has granted since it was given oversight of some demolitions in 2019.

Demolition permit approval will soon be handled by the Historic Preservation Commission, moving it out of the hands of the building department.

Planning board members are concerned that a demolition-review law could go too far in including houses that are not necessarily historic.

The first step in moving the approval of demolition permits on historic structures from the building department to the Historic Preservation Commission was approved by the council last Tuesday.

The 60,000-square-foot “Lloyd Estate” has been moved off tonight’s zoning board agenda, and town officials just extended their no-knockdown moratorium another 30 days.

In response to a recent increase in home demolitions, the planning board is investigating bringing back a no-knock down ordinance.