Cape May Aims to Stay Off Historic Watch List

CAPE MAY- This city with 600 wood frame structures dating back to the 19th century is off the watch list of the National Park Service as endangering its National Historic Landmark status.
At a Dec. 4 City Council meeting, discussion centered on staying off the watch list in the future by ensuring the integrity the city’s historic district.
City Council accepted $24,999 in grant funding to continue an ongoing survey of Cape May’s historic buildings.
Mayor Edward J. Mahaney Jr. said the city would match the grant amount.
He said a meeting was held last month with the city’s Historic Preservation Commission (HPC). The mayor said the city would continue to pursue an agenda that will keep it in good standing and help strengthen preservation requirements so the city doesn’t find itself deficient in the future.
Mahaney said HPC’s design standards for homes in Cape May were issued in 2003 and needed to be updated. He said interaction between the HPC and other city boards and commissions was important.
HPC Chairman Warren Coupland said Cape May was placed on the watch list in 2007 by the National Park Service. He said the city was placed on the list due to inappropriate new construction and demolition and heavy traffic.
“In October 2007, the HPC met and developed a five-year corrective action plan to correct the deficiencies known to exist so that we in fact could be removed from the watch list,” said Coupland.
He said he did not believe the city was not in jeopardy of losing its National Landmark Status despite being on the watch list.
In May 2008, the corrective action plan was given to the Secretary of the Interior seeking guidance for other areas of improvement. Coupland said the plan was implemented.
He said there needed to be an understanding of historic preservation among the public, contractors, city council and zoning and planning officials.
While Cape May has been referred to as a Victorian seashore resort, it has much more than that, said Coupland. The city also has homes from the Federal period of the 1700s and cottages developed in the 1940s.
He said the period of significance for Cape May was 1830 to 1940. Much of the city’s Victorian architecture is intact.
Coupland said the city obtained National Historic Landmark Status in 1976 from the National Park Service because Cape May had the largest collection of 19th century wood frame structures in America.
“There’s 67,000 historic places on the National Register of Historic Places but only 3 percent or less are considered National Historic Landmarks which Cape May City is,” he said.
In 1976, the state Register of Historic Places recognized the city.
City Council created an historic district which became part of the city’s zoning regulations and the HPC was established, said Coupland.
The HPC conducts surveys of the city’s historic buildings within the historic district, recommends changes as appropriate to the historic district, sets design standards for the exterior alterations of existing buildings and new construction and demolition of existing buildings.
If you are fortunate enough to own an historic home in Cape May, it can be quite a challenge, said Coupland. He said while homeowners may want to use new materials that conserve energy, the Secretary of the Interior, “wants everything to remain exactly as it is or even better, as it was.”
“Owning a home in the historic district comes with certain responsibilities to history,” Coupland.
Mahaney said a report from the Secretary of the Interior commended Cape May and the HPC for a high-level of diligence and dedication to maintaining the standards of a National Historic Landmark.
One year ago, representatives from the Department of the Interior toured Cape May with city officials.
“Part of our problem with being on the watch list was nobody from the state and federal agencies had been in town in recent years to see what happened,” he said. “Once they spent a whole day here, they had a different perspective…”
Mahaney said Cape May has narrow streets and very little parking in the center of town because it was planned, designed and built before the advent of automobiles.