It’s disheartening to see yet another beautiful historic home in Ventnor being torn down. That’s according to former Ventnor Mayor Tim Kreisher.
While property owners have every right to make decisions about their property, I can’t help but feel that the city plays a role in this trend.
With the tax abatement program favoring new construction and nearly every variance request being approved, these policies seem to encourage the demolition of our cherished older homes.
Let’s hope for a balance that preserves our community’s character while allowing for growth.
Social Media Comments:
Jeffrey Cole: Acts, laws, bylaws need to be enacted or already should have been. Also max square footage/lot square footage. ie 85,000 sq foot house on a 100,000 sq foot lot. Also height limits. Brigantine did have a two story limit, but no sq footage of the dwelling compared to the lot size. Now it has ballooned. I guess this is why certain people have large homes on the bay with docks. No oversight.
Joe Venezia: Ventnor, Margate, and Longport are all tearing down stately homes with lots of character. The new ones all pretty much look the same. Black and grey stone columns, vinyl siding, and several decks per home. These homes have no charm, and no character. Soon enough every house will all look the same.
Sean Gleason: 100% correct Tim. Tax abatement served its purpose. Most lots are full now. It needs to end.
Mike Merlino: Personally, I always believed that tax abatements were useful tool for developing commercial real estate, not residential. Other than that, and not having a property on a historic registry, owners can and should be able to develop residential properties that fit the footprint of the original home. Variances for height, etc should be restricted.
Well, there is far more reasons for tearing down these old homes for new ones. Sure abatements help but in most cases these older homes are neglected, have inferior floor plans, contain hazards such as asbestos, lead or galvanized piping. Electrical is another real hazard and most would never meet current building codes and standards. Believe me I love redoing older homes and have lived in them my entire life.
While I agree completely with the “ beautiful older home” nostalgia and as someone who grew up and currently own a home 100+ years old in Ventnor with great street appeal, these home sadly are on borrowed time. Respectfully and let’s be honest here, cities including Ventnor are growing. Along with that growth comes increased demand on services which have a net result of increased costs for those services. The city is incentivized and rewarded by those who tear down and rebuild via, taxes, permit fees, etc. For them to make needed changes that would allow owners to be incentivized to remodel, they would have to sacrifice their revenue stream a bit. I don’t see that happening any time soon. It would require redirecting priority and focus. I know Ventnor’s administration all live in beautiful older homes that were painfully remodeled. The owners we’re talking about who coming to buy and rebuild don’t have the same nostalgia or outlook as the locals who still call Ventnor their only full time home. They want what they want and often it is far easier to scrape and build than to preserve. I don’t think much would change even if incentives did.
That being said, we love our 100 year old house and those on the block. One neighbor just remodel their full time 100 year old home. Another home built their home decades ago and planted trees in front for each of their lovely daughters. Plenty of love stories like that around Ventnor. How long these homes will last only time will tell.
Thanks Josh for injecting some well-needed reality into the usual pining for nostalgia on here that ignores tax and financial considerations considerations. Especially if maintaining the nostalgia of smaller/older homes would raise the taxes for everyone else, and further pressure costs on city services.
Everyone has an opinion but the City has a document called the Master Plan. City is supposed to be encouraging open space per that document. I remember someone telling me about the last lot availible for construction. Where is that lot? Beach area turning into 100% concrete and the developers rule.
Overdevelopment is rampant & creating real quality of life issues for Ventnor residents.