As we are reminded daily by the media, the nationwide housing market is in a decline, both in terms of the amount of new construction and in terms of housing prices. This is also the case in Englewood, where the intense pressure we have seen for new construction and for more dense development in existing residential areas appears to have eased for the time being. Englewood has been through an unfortunate period over the last decade when far too many important decisions were made more for the benefit of well-heeled and politically influential developers than for the benefit of the community as a whole. As we emerge from this period it is important that we better define and understand what in fact we want for our community. We need time to absorb the implications of projects recently completed or under construction. And we need more emphasis on preserving and protecting the valuable physical assets we have and less emphasis on adding to them.

There is much which differentiates Englewood from our neighboring suburban communities, from the economic and ethnic diversity of our population to our lively politics. But one feature which is of special value is the character of our attractive tree-lined and well maintained residential neighborhoods, which clearly have been in existence for a while. Englewood was one of the first communities in Bergen County to be settled, and has to this day far more officially designated historic buildings. Our unique situation, convenient to Manhattan but attractively suburban, has for a century and a half attracted prominent persons and less prominent persons to build or acquire distinctive residences within our borders, and to create a community which also includes distinctive public buildings.

In its 2003 updating of Englewood’s Master Plan, the Planning Board included an entire section on Historic Preservation. To quote from this section:

Englewood has a special feeling, a distinctive sense of place that residents and visitors alike associate with the city’s historical architecture and landscapes... the Master Plan attaches a high priority to the preservation and protection of the city’s historic heritage.

The Plan recommends the establishment of a Historic Preservation Commission, which "through a community outreach, should enlist property owners both individually and in areas with historical significance...to enroll as designated properties and historic preservation districts." Efforts would be made and incentives established to discourage the demolition of specified historic structures.

As the housing market recovers, it is likely that the intense pressure on our residential neighborhoods from developers of townhouses, multiple dwellings, and inappropriately large or incompatible single-family dwellings will resume. The City Council, the Planning Board and the Board of Adjustment should be aware of this and protect us to the extent it is legally possible. Creation of a Historic Preservation Commission as recommended by the Planning Board in 2003 (and rerecommended in 2007) would provide additional evidence of the value we place on our special character.