BEAVER — A committee of volunteers will meet later this month to begin developing a historic preservation plan that could change how demolitions and renovations are approved in the borough.
Beaver's Historic Architecture Review Board is developing a historic preservation plan for the borough's National Historic District. The all-volunteer board is working with RGA Consultants, a New Jersey-based independent archaeological and historic preservation consulting company, to develop the plan. The first of several meetings to examine the design guidelines is scheduled for 7 p.m. April 26 at the municipal building.
The historic district encompasses almost the entire borough, according to maps filed with the National Register of Historic Places.
According to a flier circulated to publicize the meeting, the goal is to create a plan that protects the historic district by preserving its look and feel, enhancing the borough's property values, and to engage the community and council.
"The consultants are still in the information-gathering phase," said Bob Rice, chairman of the review board. "They're looking at right-shape-peg-for-the-hole kind of things."
The borough has had a historic district since 1996, Rice said, but until 2011 there wasn't an active program for the borough to do anything to protect the district from demolition or "inappropriate construction." In 2011, it developed a demolition ordinance.
The committee hopes to see that ordinance tightened. Throughout the process, the committee plans to develop recommendations for council to create regulations that would require additional review of proposed demolitions or renovations, Rice said.
"There seems to be a fair amount of support for having review of new construction and major renovations," Rice said. "But how far-reaching is that, we need to figure out. Is it just review and comment? Only review of certain kinds of projects?"