Resident Ginny DeLong talks about Bancroft.
In various public discussions and in social media on the issue of what ultimately is to become of the Bancroft property, it has been said that members of Haddonfield Encouraging Responsible Development (HERD) “pushed the Commissioners” to acquire the property in the fall of 2015. It was actually the Haddonfield Citizens Group (HCG) that advocated for the purchase. Of the eight plaintiffs in the current lawsuit, two of us were trustees in the HCG, and we did indeed “push the Commissioners” to acquire the property. Our vision however was not the hybrid agreement that was ultimately created. Ideally, it would have been an outright purchase without strings attached. That said, HCG did applaud the agreement with the conviction that the 2016 Redevelopment Plan would protect the property from being developed with large townhomes that are unattractive to senior citizens and very attractive to young families.
The original 2016 Redevelopment Plan required the site to have the features (price, size, layout, etc.) desirable to empty nesters. The 2018 changes passed by the commissioners stripped those requirements, changing the stated Goals and Objectives to “guidance” and allowing for a “lack of adherence” to the “guidance.” The Commissioners granted the developer’s request to amend the 2016 Redevelopment Plan, against the advice of the Planning Board, and requested nothing in return from the developer e.g. designating the property “age restricted”. HERD is now suing the Borough to force a return to the 2016 Redevelopment Plan. If that happens, the developer would have to build something that is actually suitable and desirable for our empty nesters, as opposed to merely being marketed as such.
