Steve Weinstein Says He's Still Optimistic About Bancroft Deal

School Board President Steve Weinstein said he's still optimistic about a deal for a .

"I think the door will open soon," Weinstein said last week after leaving a closed-door meeting with borough commissioners. "I wouldn't still be talking to people if I wasn't optimistic.

"When we have something to say, we will say it. If we believe we have a deal, we will have multiple public sessions to get input from the public. When there's a deal."

School and borough officials have only discussed Bancroft in in public meetings since February. That's when Weinstein, Ed Borden, one of three borough commissioners, Borough Administrator Sharon McCullough and schools Superintendent Richard Perry, started negotiating with officials from , a center for the developmentally disabled and those with acquired brain injuries.

The nearly 19-acre Bancroft property on Kings Highway East, next to , is one of the the last large tracts of land in this nearly built-out, 2.5-mile borough. Many see it as an oasis of possibilities, including open space, high school expansion and new athletic fields.

Speculation about whether a deal will be made has increased over the last four months after few public statements. It wasn't helped when Borden bickered with a resident in a public meeting earlier this month about whether Open Space Trust Fund money can be used for a $356,000 commitment the borough recently made to install artificial turf on a high school field the borough owns.

Borden and the borough issued a public statement last fall before a ballot referendum to continue a local open-space tax was overwhelming approved. The statement said local officials preferred to use the more than $500,000 in the fund toward the purchase of Bancroft, if a deal could be reached.

Mary Fagan, a Merion Avenue resident, questioned Borden at a meeting on June 14 about whether any open-space money will be used for the turf project. The commissioner included a line in a resolution past last month that said open-space money could be used for the athletic field.

Borden told Fagan that would only happen if the Bancroft deal was "dead."

It seems like a "bait and switch" Fagan said.

Borden countered: "If there is no Bancroft deal by 2013, then we would be open to other things. But we're not there yet. We're still negotiating with Bancroft."

One of the sticking points may be a sale price. The borough has assessed Bancroft's value at $12 million. Bancroft officials say they think their land is worth $15 million.