Westwood Names Bill Martin Volunteer of the Year 2020

William ‘Bill’ Martin is Westwood’s Volunteer of the Year for 2020. Martin, a ‘citizen architect,’ has a wealth of experience leading the borough’s land use boards. He is pictured Jan. 6 with Council President Chris Montana, member Erin Collins, Mayor Ray Arroyo, wife Jackie Martin, and councilmembers Rob Bicocchi, Beth Dell, and Jodi Murphy. | Photo by Alyssa Dawson

WESTWOOD, N.J.—Saying, “I’m not a fireman, I’m not a doctor, I’m not an EMS tech; I’m not sure I deserve to win,” a local architect with his eye on the big picture nevertheless deservedly is the borough’s  Volunteer of the Year for 2020.

The mayor and Borough Council have honored William J. “Bill” Martin with the distinction in part for his “innumerable hours of service to the Borough of Westwood and its residents and incalculable contribution” to Westwood’s way of life.

Martin, just elected chair of the borough’s Zoning Board of Adjustment for a 26th consecutive year, also is a 25-year member and past chairman of the Westwood Planning Board, an  architect and building inspector, a member of Bergen County’s Historical Advisory Board, and chairman of the Pascack Historical Preservation Board.

He is first vice president of the Architects League of Northern New Jersey and public awareness chair of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

He told Pascack Press on Jan. 9, hours before a Planning Board meeting on the Master Plan reexamination, that he is indebted to all the men and women who serve in elected and volunteer capacities.

“I don’t do this for compensation or not-compensation; I do it to give back to the community. That’s why any of us do it,” he said.

Newly minted mayor Raymond Arroyo read Martin’s proclamation into the record at the governing body’s Jan. 2 reorganization meeting—Martin missed it—and presented his friend and colleague with the honor at the ZBA’s Jan. 6 reorganization meeting.

Martin told the mayor and other officials in his brief remarks he was “truly humbled. Community leaders, friends, neighbors, thank you all for this honor and thank you for your continued confidence in me.”

He said, “I’m an architect. I know how to put buildings together, I know how communities work, I know how to solve problems. So for me doing this kind of of volunteer work is very important.”

Westwood similarly honored residents Jim Gines in 2017, Michael Fitzsimmons in 2018, and the Andresen family in 2019.

Martin, recipient of the AIA Architects League of Northern New Jersey 2019 Community Service Award, is that organization’s epitome of a citizen architect, one who serves his or her community in an elected, appointed, or volunteer capacity.

Martin, the group said, excels at all three.

Arroyo cited that honor and Martin’s record of volunteer service to Westwood’s land use boards in delivering his proclamation.

“Bill has volunteered for so long that his wife, Jackie, and children, Abigail and Grace, don’t know what life is like without their husband and father out at meetings,” Arroyo said in part.

The proclamation noted that in 1993 Martin, then “an eager young architect with a fledgling architectural firm on Center Avenue,” WJM Architect, was first appointed to the Westwood Zoning Board.

That led to Martin spending the next quarter-century “honing his architectural skills through continuing education and licensing; competitive designing for which he has won multiple awards; and membership in prestigious professional architectural and planning associations,” the document read.

It said Martin, who is LEED certified, has been “at the forefront of sustainable design, which he seamlessly blends with his love of historic preservation.”

And it noted that that Martin has brought his expertise and ZBA chair and Westwood Planning Board member, “skillfully guiding and educating fellow board members as they wrestle with decisions that shape the landscape and the future of Westwood.”

It said Martin has not only volunteered uncounted hours to review applications and attend meetings, he also has donated his architectural services for such projects as the design of the fieldhouse at Meadowbrook Field and the Ambulance Corps and Construction Department offices at Borough Hall.

Moreover, it said, in Martin’s spare time he is an appointed member of the Bergen County Historic Advisory Board and the Closter Historic Preservation Commission.

From the heart

Arroyo on Jan. 6 lauded Martin’s “expertise, intelligence, and passion for our town, leading his fellow board members along Westwood’s, tricky and potentially treacherous path of  growth and development.”

Arroyo said “You are engaged in a balancing act, weighing individual property rights and aspirations against the general restrictions that limit them for the public good. I know of no one better suited to lead this board  in that exercise than William J. Martin.”

Arroyo said he was not alone in that opinion.

“During my eight years as a Zoning Board member, and every year since, Bill offered to yield the chairmanship  at each board reorganization. However his fellow board members consistently refuse to accept the offer. They understand what Bill brings to the role and appreciate his value to the board’s  mission,” the mayor said.

He explained his eight years on the ZBA were “an invaluable education on more than just zoning issues.

“Board members learn the value of fact-based reasoned argumentation in an arena that demands—and deserves—a civil discourse,” he said. Arroyo added, “I learned that even if I’d voted in the minority  and had failed to persuade my colleagues I nevertheless had participated in a fuller vetting of the issues in shaping a better application—both for the applicant and for Westwood.”

Pascack Press most recently covered Martin presenting a standing-room-only “A History of Home Construction in the Pascack Valley” at the Pascack Historical Society in Park Ridge, and “Permits 101,” a seminar on zoning and permitting in the borough, hosted by Westwood for All Ages at the Community Center.

At his history of home construction talk, visitors came from all over the Pascack Valley and Northern Valley areas. A class from Tenafly High School attended as well.

AIA Architects League of Northern New Jersey says in its materials that “While Mr. Martin frequently shares his knowledge with the public because he enjoys the opportunity to educate the community on architectural topics, he also benefits from establishing himself as an subject expert and so subsequently a name that people think of when in need of a residential architect.”

It said Martin is the developer of the design philosophy Econo-functional Aesthetic Balance, or E-FABism, “an attempt to reconcile and bring design factors into an equilibrium, and create a new sustainable “architectural gestalt” to transcend architectural fashion.

Martin said in discussing this philosophy that his ideas were influenced by his education at Carnegie Mellon University and at Pratt Institute.

They also were informed, he said, by “architectural and art history, studies of economic concepts, observations of the attitudes and emotions of non-design persons, and the practical real world knowledge gained by being directly involved in the design of actual constructed buildings of all types.”

Design wise: William ‘Bill’ Martin in a Facebook photo.

He said, “I wanted to become an architect to help people. People need well designed shelter for themselves, families, businesses and all type of endeavor that requires sheltered space.”

He added, “Architecture has the power to create beautifully effective shelter for the needs, hopes, dreams and memories of humankind, both collectively and individually.”

On his website, Martin boasts a long list of readings, appearances, honors, and awards, including a joint state Senate and 

General Assembly resolution and a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition.

For more information, visit wjmarchitect.com.