The times they are a-changin’ but Solebury’s Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB) says it isn’t going to change until it gets some specific guidelines.
And therefore it recently voted to recommend the township deny Scott Blank’s application to install solar panels on the roof of his barn in the Historic District on Aquetong Road.
The vote was 6-1 against, with only Marnie Newman Leasure voting in favor.
The HARB recommendation came before the Solebury Board of Supervisors on Tuesday and was unanimously overruled, thus clearing the way for Blank to proceed.
Arguing for approval, Supervisor John Francis said it was true that the township did not have specific guidelines, but it did have draft guidelines under consideration, so “why can’t we simply use the draft guidelines we have and move forward with this first solar application.”
Historic preservation does not mean “freezing time,” he argued.
“If we want to dial back the clock and cryogenically preserve an historic district, we should also think about regulating and banning all ‘modern’ appliances including air conditioners, heat pumps, traffic lights and automobiles, and perhaps even dictate the inhabitants’ dress code.
“That is clearly not what we want to do, unless we want to create an historic Disneyland.
“I don’t think that’s our intention. So that leaves us with choices about how far do we go in preservation. We really want to preserve the historic context, look, and feel of a place with as few intrusions as reasonably possible.
“It is also important that we recognize that time marches forward,” he said.
Chair Mark Baum Baicker said he was concerned that HARB’s reason for denial was the lack of guidelines.
“That would imply that any issue that has not previously been presented for HARB’s consideration and therefore would not likely be addressed in the guidelines would have to be denied. And as we have seen, it can take years to get guidelines in place.
“At our last meeting, this board voted to move ahead with the process of developing an ordinance covering solar panels in historic districts. But, again, that process could take well over a year and perhaps two years to complete...
“I think we owe (Blank) a decision based on something other than our inability to establish guidelines in a timely manner,” Baum Baicker concluded.
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