Brandywine Expansion Plan Rejected by Historic Preservation Commission

The borough Historic Preservation Commission on Wednesday denied a request for a certificate of appropriateness from an assisted-care facility seeking to double the size of its building.

The ruling came just after 11:30 p.m., at the end of a four-hour meeting, half of which was taken up by the request.

Brandywine Senior Living at Haddonfield, formerly known as the , wants to expand the size of its two-story facility at 132 Warwick Rd. from 16,900 square feet to 33,800 square feet, from 52 units to 64. Officials there said the expansion is needed to upgrade the facility, which will be razed and rebuilt, except for a historic home that acts as the front facade.

But neighbors lined up for the better part of an hour to pan the plan as too big and too intrusive to them and Haddonfield. Perhaps the only silver lining for Brandywine was the HPC vote was split 3-2. Thirteen residents spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, all against Brandywine.

"The Historic Preservation Commission did what they were supposed to do," said Dave Gottardi, a neighbor near the facility and head of Preservation Haddonfield, a citizen advocacy group. "They protected streetscapes and neighborhoods and green space. They protected a historic property from being gobbled up by a giant, oversized addition."

Gottardi recently stepped down as chair of the HPC, a borough commission whose responsibilities include advising the planning board on the appropriateness of commercial and residential real estate additions in the Haddonfield historic district. The commission's rulings are not the final word on property improvements, but rather nonbinding recommendations to the planning board.

Brandywine officials said they hope to go before the planning board next month to win approval for their project.

"We're disappointed," said Brenda Bacon, president and CEO of Brandywine, who led the presentation to the commission. "Obviously, we believed we worked very hard to bring a state-of-the-art senior facility to Haddonfield. We're not asking for any variance on massing and size. We meet those codes. We'll continue to pursue. We think seniors deserve to have a quality place to live and not the current structure, which is totally inadequate."

Brandywine Senior Living bought the facility, formerly known as Haddonfield Home, in November for $2.7 million. Haddonfield Home was run by a nonprofit entity. Brandywine is a for-profit company with other facilities in New Jersey, including Moorestown, and five other states. Bacon said Brandywine is prepared to spend up to $16 million to renovate the Haddonfield facility. She said that would mean a substantial increase in local taxes paid.

HPC members William Bisirri, Toni Bonnette and Chairwoman Lee Albright all voted against the project. Susan Reintzel and Cynthia Byers voted in favor of granting a certificate of appropriateness to Brandywine.

"It dramatically changed the character of the property," Albright said after the meeting. "And, it further intensified a nonconforming use. This is a residential neighborhood."

The senior-care home has existed at its current location since 1953.

"I think they did everything in their power to make it more acceptable," Byers said during the meeting. "It's more coexisting now then before."

Gottardi admitted the HPC had a tough balancing act.

"We all make decisions to live here," he said. "We pay a ton of taxes to live here. We get a lot back for it and we really value that. I guess we feel this is endangering the things that we value, that we pay to live here for."

Bacon had another view.

"I think that, understandably, the neighbors would like to keep our property as their park," she said. "I expect them to speak out and want to maintain that. We would like to provide services to seniors. We'd like to be good citizens of Haddonfield.

"But if the borough decides they don't want us here, we may have no choice but to leave and sell the property to someone who might find another use, someone who wants to rent rooms with no showers."