Who Fights for the Preservation of Plainfield’s Historic Places?

What's happening: Resolution R 333-26 would have directed the Planning Board to study the Netherwood Station block — the station and its two commuter lots — for an “area in need of redevelopment” designation. It failed on a 3-3 City Council vote on September 14, 2026. A narrower resolution, R 371-26, covering only the station parcel (Block 401, Lot 2), passed 4-3 on October 13, 2026. The Planning Board now investigates that parcel.

Where it stands: The station is listed on the State Register (March 17, 1984) and the National Register (June 22, 1984; Thematic Nomination of Operating Passenger Railroad Stations, ref. 84002830), and the State Register listing takes in both commuter lots. NJ Transit still owns the station and has let its condition deteriorate — stewardship, not redevelopment designation, is the remedy the law contemplates for a listed landmark. STQC will follow the study to the Planning Board hearing.

What can be done: Come to the Planning Board hearing on the study once it is scheduled, and tell us what you know about the station's condition at contact@savethequeencity.org.

What's happening: After decades of failed proposals and litigation, 808-14 Central Avenue sold on October 9, 2024 for $445,000 — deed recorded November 4, 2024, Book 6562, Page 31. An alteration permit for $62,300 was issued on November 22, 2024 and remains open with no certificate. The owner has since come before the Historic Preservation Commission about converting the building to a bed and breakfast.

Where it stands: Privately owned, built 1890, on about seven tenths of an acre. It carries no local, State or National historic designation, so no certificate of appropriateness is required for work on it. Whatever protection exists lies in the use approval and the property maintenance code, not in preservation law.

What can be done: Follow the Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Board agendas for the bed-and-breakfast application, and tell us what you see happening at the property.

What's happening: 930-32 Putnam Avenue is owned by the City of Plainfield and sits inside the Putnam-Watchung Historic District. At its October 1, 2026 meeting the Planning Board voted to recommend the redevelopment plan to the City Council, with corrections. The plan takes effect only if the Council adopts it by ordinance — two readings at separate meetings, with a public hearing at the second. What the plan allows, in plain English.

Where it stands: STQC has issued a public statement and filed suit in Superior Court challenging the redevelopment designation (Resolution 274-26); the case is proceeding. Statement & lawsuit coverage. Two facts are worth knowing. The city's preservation ordinance exempts City-owned property, and projects under a redevelopment agreement, from the certificate of appropriateness requirement — which is why there has been no Historic Preservation Commission review. And the Putnam-Watchung district is locally designated only; it is not on the State or National Register, so state and federal review do not reach it. The parcel also sits in a FEMA AO flood zone, subject to shallow flooding of up to three feet.

What can be done: Come to the City Council meetings where the adopting ordinance is introduced and heard, and ask two questions on the record: what evidence supports the redevelopment designation, and why city-owned property in a historic district is exempt from the review every private owner has to go through.

What's happening: The parish has reached a sales agreement with a developer who, in the parish's own words, “will negotiate with the City of Plainfield about plans for redevelopment of the site.” The church building has not been demolished.

Where it stands: As of September 2026 the Union County Clerk's records carry only a notice of settlement, filed September 2, 2025. No deed has been recorded, so the sale has not closed of record. Grace is individually listed on the New Jersey Register (2001) and the National Register (2002), and locally designated by the City (2006). Read the parish's account of the sale.

What can be done: Ask what the redevelopment plan is before it reaches a board. Demolition and exterior changes on a locally designated property require a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission. If you hear anything about plans for the site, tell us at contact@savethequeencity.org.

Who owns it: The City of Plainfield. The Young Men's Christian Association of Plainfield sold the building in October 2018 for $1,590,000; it changed hands again in March 2020 for $4,200,000; and on November 10, 2022 the City bought it for $5,180,000 — deed recorded December 8, 2022, Book 6492, Page 2210. What happens to it is now a public decision.

Where it stands: It is a contributing building in the Plainfield Civic Historic District, listed on the National Register on June 17, 1993 and the New Jersey Register on May 11, 1993. Under the New Jersey Register of Historic Places Act rules, a municipality needs project authorization from the Department of Environmental Protection before an undertaking that encroaches on a listed property. The city applied in March 2026 to lease the building for rehabilitation and to subdivide and sell its rear portion (HPO Project #25-2216). The State Historic Sites Council heard it on April 16, 2026, and DEP issued its decision on April 30. On October 13 the City Council adopted R 376-26, amending the redevelopment agreement with East 5th Plainfield LLC for the building and its neighbor on East 5th Street.

What can be done: Ask the city what it intends for the building, what the approved plan actually permits, and on what terms it would be used or transferred. Follow the board agendas on Documents, and tell us if conditions at the site change.