Borden Wants to 'Seriously Consider' Public Purchase of Bancroft Site

In a surprising turnabout, Haddonfield Commissioner Ed Borden on Tuesday recommended the borough “seriously look at the public option” for the much-anticipated redevelopment of the 18.7-acre Bancroft property on Kings Highway East.

Borden made the announcement in a commissioners' work session Tuesday afternoon. He had previously spoken in support of an effort to build senior assisted-care or independent living units as the primary development at the site. He said about 10 low- to moderate-income housing units may still be constructed if there is a public purchase.

The redevelopment has been a lightning rod for divergent opinions on what to do with the space once Bancroft, a center for people with developmental disabilities, leaves the site after 128 years.

Many residents in this nearly 400-year-old, 2.5-square-mile town see the site as an oasis for public needs ranging from more tax-paying property to more open space and sports fields.

“I’m not saying this is something I support yet,” Borden said during the meeting. “But we have to seriously vet the public-use option. We need to seriously look at the all-public option.”

Borden insisted his push to explore the feasibility of pooling borough, school board, county and state funds to purchase the land is not a departure from his previous stance on the redevelopment. He said he supported a similar public-purchase plan for Bancroft six years ago.  That effort fell apart, like most of the redevelopment plans for the property over the last 11 years.

But Borden is now in a key position to affect the outcome of the latest redevelopment process, which started in December with the hire of a Trenton planning firm to take a fresh look at a plan the public would support. Borden is one of three borough commissioners, Haddonfield’s highest elected officials, and the commissioners' representative on the planning board. The planning board has overseen most of the Bancroft meetings since spring and sent the new development options to the commissioners this months. 

The firm of Clarke Caton Hintz came up with three development options that had varying levels of public support. They are:

• A public ownership option with the borough and the board of education purchasing the property for active and passive recreation use and public buildings, such as a new library
• Age-targeted townhouses geared toward “empty-nesters” or “young professionals,” with one to two bedrooms
• Senior living units similar to existing developments such as Medford Lees or Cadbury

Public opinion has been mixed on which option is most attractive. The most passionate voices in the debate, however, have been advocates of a public purchase. Borough resident Chris Maynes spoke for more than 25 minutes in favor of a public purchase at a planning board meeting on Bancroft earlier this month.

Advocates of the other options stressed the need for ratable property for tax revenue. The typical Haddonfield resident pays $12,000 year in property taxes. Bancroft, as a nonprofit business, has never paid property taxes and a public purchase would not produce tax revenues.

Borden’s fellow commissioners quizzed him Tuesday on his push to explore the public option.

“Giving up the potential for taxes doesn’t trump that?” Mayor Tish Colombi asked Borden, referring to the public option.

“I think we need to have real numbers for all of this,” Borden said. He added that a scaled-down plan for housing on the site and the difficult housing market makes some of the options “a wash.”

Other potential hurdles to a public purchase include the money to buy the property. Borden and the commissioners said $950,000 in state and county Green Acres and open-space grants are expected to be available to the borough but those funds have to be matched dollar-for-dollar. The borough has about $500,000 in matching funds from an open-space tax. It would have to come up with another $450,000 to use the entire $950,000 of identified grant money.

Commissioner Jeff Kasko asked about the deadline to use one of the grants before the end of the year. Borough Administrator Sharon McCollough said she has had preliminary talks with county officials that could lead to an extension until 2013 to use the funds.

Even if the borough matches the grants and has $1.9 million to use for a purchase, Bancroft officials have said they value their property at $15 million.

Borden said a “serious discussion” needs to begin with Bancroft about a purchase price. The borough had valued Bancroft at $12 million.

The borough Board of Education was a big proponent of a public purchase of Bancroft. Borden described the board's effort as “no real plan” in May. Now he said he’s eager to hear what the board has in mind to help raise millions more to possibly purchase the property.

The cost for coming up with a viable redevelopment plan has, to date, cost Haddonfield about $265,000 over 10 years. Haddonfield has paid Clarke Caton Hintz $64,150.97 since December. The firm also does affordable-housing compliance work for the borough, which accounted for less than $1,000 of the total since December. 

Borden previously promised that all development-planning fees would be recouped when a private developer purchased the property. It there is a public purchase, that won’t happen.

“Those expenditures were part of a process to evaluate all the options,” he said.

Borden and the commissioners will decide this fall which of the three options to pursue for the latest push to purchase Bancroft.