HPC To Review Park Avenue Plans

On Tuesday, the Historic Preservation Commission will review plans for these two buildings and make recommendations on their appropriateness. The issuance of a certificate of appropriateness is a necessary step before applications can be heard by the land use boards. Both buildings are in the North Avenue Historic District.

Here is some of the ornamentation on the building at 212-216 Park Avenue, next to the PNC Bank building. The current owner, Certified Green Property One LLC, seeks relief from parking requirements (20 spaces required, 0 proposed) and preliminary site plan approval to convert the first floor of the vacant building to 3,565 square feet of retail space and to convert the second and third floors to two residential units on each floor, for a total of four apartments.

The application is scheduled for a hearing before the Planning Board on March 5.

Here is the entry for 212 Park Avenue. The property is listed as Block 245, Lot 7.02.

Plaintalker could not call up an image based on just the addresses and block and lot numbers, hence the photos.

The other application is scheduled to be heard before the Zoning Board of Adjustment on March 4. The owner of 226-232 Park Avenue, Block 245, Lot 8 is listed as Next Step to Collins Avenue LLC.

This building once housed a Plainfield office of the Courier News. Other occupants were Thomas Furniture and most recently Atkol. The applicant seeks a use variance (residential density, floor area ratio, and height), relief from parking requirements (36 spaces required, 0 proposed) and preliminary site plan approval to convert the first floor to 3,935 square feet of retail space, convert the second and third floors to four dwelling units on each floor and construct a fourth floor with four dwelling units.

The HPC issues certificates of appropriateness for exterior changes only. HPC decisions may be approved, disapproved or amended by the board hearing the application. Tuesday's HPC meeting is 7:30 p.m. in City Hall Library.

The developer, Frank Cretella, had included the PNC Bank in a conceptual plan presented earlier. Cretella's firm, Landmark Developers, has an April 2007 agreement with the city and the Union County Improvement Authority to redevelop the North Avenue Historic District, which was Plainfield's original commercial district. The district includes the main train station, the Quaker Meeting House and numerous 1880s buildings between Park and Watchung avenues.

--Bernice Paglia