Window & Door Repair in Ridgewood, NJ

Two pages of the Village’s Historic Preservation Permit form

Ridgewood has a Historic Preservation Commission, and the Village names a Village Center Historic District. The Village’s application form says a Historic Preservation Permit is required before certain work starts in a historic district or on a designated historic site. That includes a change in the outside look of a building that is visible from a public street. The form lists windows and doors by name.

The same form prints a list of exemptions. They cover repair or exact replacement that does not alter the outside look of the structure. For that work, the Construction Official may issue the preservation permit with no report from the commission, the form says. Its first item is the identical replacement of existing windows and doors. The list also names repairs of existing windows and doors that do not change their design, scale or appearance. Storm doors and storm windows put up on those same terms are named with them.

For everything else, the form sets out the steps. It goes in with pictures of the proposed work, and you are given a date to meet the commission. Its meetings fall on each month’s second Monday, 7:30 p.m., at Village Hall. One line matters for bigger jobs: if the commission decides against a permit, the Construction Official cannot issue a building permit.

The form goes to the Zoning/Planning Board Secretary and to the Zoning Officer. Both can be reached through Village Hall at 201-670-5500. Ask them whether your repair is on the exempt list before you fill anything in.