Help Us Safeguard Historic Riverton’s Architecture
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Rivertonians love that our Historic District is one of the few surviving places that still don’t look plasticized, suburbanized or “modernized”.

This charm attracts people to come here to restore and cherish our historic homes and businesses – and put down deep roots. This helps support our property values as well as preserve our charm.

Along with many of you, we have been frustrated that some in the outside world have not bothered to respect and preserve what has survived here so remarkably.

This outside pressure to change is growing quickly and we agree strongly with many residents that we need to work to safeguard what we still have, while we still have it, and be welcoming to those who want to come and help us do that.

THIS is the Historic character Rivertonians cherish (308 Main Street):

Not what happened to this former grand home (three miles away down Route 130)

Right now we have NO protections to keep this from happening here.

None.

Imagine this happening to one of our riverbank mansions? We have no way to defend ourselves from this right now … but we are close to getting the tools to do it.

How do Mayor and Council propose to safeguard our historic appearance?

We have to strike a balance.  Some towns (you probably know which ones) have controls that are so fussy that it’s like living with an HOA looking over your shoulder. They have “approved colors” and bans on flags, window boxes, and many kinds of changes. And if you want to replace a slate roof they force you to use real slate.

Though Historic Riverton needs strong protections we don’t know anyone here who wants that level of nosiness.

At the other extreme, some towns just don’t care and their heritage goes in the dumpster. They let flippers come in and tear off porches, trash gingerbread and make everything look like plastic. We know that Rivertonians overwhelmingly do NOT want that extreme either.

We have reviewed the historic ordinances for 18 other towns in New Jersey, to pick and choose only those tools that work, tools that are right for Riverton and procedures that are fair and easy to do with volunteers.

We propose to implement the long-standing policy, as Council agreed earlier this year: “Lose no more historic character! Above all, do no harm.” It will:

 

  •     >  Only have oversight over what is visible from the street – and not include paint colors in that.

 

  •     >  Allow replacements or new additions to use modern materials as long as they look like historic materials from the street.

 

  •     >  Make sure additions and new structures blend well with their historic neighbors.

 

There are some other details but that’s the gist of it. Keep it reasonable: no control over paint colors, no control over landscape design, window boxes, Little Free Libraries, etc., no oversight if the public can’t see it.

We have prepared a Q & A about this and invite you to read it here and email us your comments. (See list of contacts below.)

How this effort came about

For over 25 years Riverton’s official public policy has already been to “preserve and enhance” our historic streetscapes ever since our Master Plan at the time our Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. But we didn’t have the right tools and no one researched how other towns were doing it successfully.

Riverton had an Architectural Review Committee that reviewed all changes but that was ineffective, not recognized under State law.

Worse, we had a demolition ordinance that got thrown out by Superior Court in 2023, just when we needed it most to save the historic Groves Mansion on Lippincott Avenue. The judge told Borough Council that we certainly could protect our historic appearance under State law and that many towns have been doing it successfully – but we were going about it the wrong way.

We now propose to go about it the right way, so we don’t lose anything else.

After the Groves Mansion was lost the Historical Society of Riverton convened a grass roots group of residents called the “Preservation Roundtable”, representing many constituencies: business owners, realtors, the Borough government, the Borough Historian, insurance, apartment house owners, Porch Club, etc. It had no chairman, and everyone literally sat in a circle and really listened to each other. They formed a consensus of what to do.

Read more about the Roundtable in this report.

In January of 2025 the Roundtable produced a Concept Summary and it took to Borough Council. After reading and discussing it in detail, Council agreed unanimously in February to create a Subcommittee to draft an ordinance which would implement that concept, to Lose No More Historic Character.

Work needing approval by the Historic Preservation Commission

It’s very simple. We’ve prepared a flowchart here.  You’ll see that many kinds of work won’t even need you to come in for a meeting, things like simple repainting and repairs that don’t change how things look. Most everything else doesn’t need a lawyer or an architect.

Help with home improvement

We all know fixing old houses isn’t cheap but if you don’t it will depreciate. It’s not a part of this “new tools” effort but this is a good time to mention that Burlington County has programs for zero-interest, zero-payment loans for home repairs, with terms especially attractive for the elderly and others on limited income. Read about it here or call them at 609-265-5577. They’re nice folks.

Next steps

We would like to get as much feedback as possible by 10/15/2025 so that we can incorporate it into the ordinance and introduce it for First Reading at Council on 10/21/2025. Some limited enhancements can be made after that and we hope it will be ready to vote at Second Reading on 11/18/2025.

Please help us make this as effective and as appropriate for Riverton as possible.

Read those linked documents, consider them, and then we encourage you to email us your comments.

Like it? Tell us!

Ideas to make it better? Tell us!

And … if you think we’re on the wrong track somehow, definitely tell us, BUT first look at this picture and remember that our mission is to keep things like this from ever happening in Historic Riverton. Many folks have devoted a lot of effort to get us this far.  Failure now is not an option.

Here are the six members of Borough Council’s Subcommittee drafting the ordinance along with their email addresses. Please email any or all of us with your thoughts. We want this to be as effective as possible AND as easy to implement and as easy to live with as possible. That’s a tall order for a small town but we think Rivertonians are up to it.

Thank you for your consideration and help in Safeguarding Historic Riverton.

 

 

 

  •      >  John Laverty, Chairman of Historic Preservation Commission: [email protected]