Sleepy Hollow Boundaries On Tuesday's Agenda

Historic advertisement for Sleepy Hollow

The much-used phrase "Sleepy Hollow" will represent a specific area if the City Council approves a resolution Tuesday to set boundaries.

In June 2015, representatives for the Friends of Sleepy Hollow sought an opinion from the Historic Preservation Commission on their plan to erect signs identifying the neighborhood, but board members said the first step was to define it. The term "Sleepy Hollow" has been used broadly at times by real estate agents to add cachet to a home. Besides nine signs, the group proposed to place "beautiful black planters" at the ends of streets and had raised $10,000 for the improvements (See more details at the link above.}The group plans to put together a web site to attract buyers from New York City.

The area discussed in 2015 overlapped two historic districts which have their own signage.Tuesday's resolution is accompanied by a map with the designated neighborhood highlighted in green.

Once boundaries are established, the group can return to the Planning Board to seek approvals for the signage.

Councilman Cory Storch wrote about the issue the day after the June 2015 HPC meeting and broke out four points on his blog (click on link).

The city has six residential historic districts that were created through an intensive process of documentation and approvals from the state and the city. The designation of a neighborhood by resolution appears to be a first for the city.

Tuesday's combined agenda-fixing and regular meeting begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.

--Bernice