Have Your Say on the Bancroft Purchase
The first of three meetings on Haddonfield's proposed Bancroft purchase takes place Wednesday at the Municipal Hall.
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The Haddonfield Board of Commissioners and Board of Education held a joint meeting Wednesday at the Municipal Hall to discuss the proposed purchase or the Bancroft property.
Public officials said they drafted a letter of intent to buy the nearly 19-acre property earlier this month for $12.2 million. It's part of a nearly $17 million plan to acquire the property adjacent to Haddonfield Memorial High School for school expansion and open space.
Wednesday's meeting will be the first of three this month in which the commissioners and the BOE are scheduled to discuss the purchase. The commissioners meet again on Monday, July 23 and the school board will hold a special meeting on July 31. Both boards are expected to vote on the approval of the letter of intent at those meetings. No vote will be held at Wednesday's meeting.
A public referendum will be needed to approve a bond for the purchase. The referendum is likely to be held in January.
Here are more details of the deal:
Purchase Price: $12,192,500 (which is the current assessed value of the property), subject to referendum approval
Timing:
- Bancroft has up to 2 years to sign an agreement of sale for a new site
- The District will not have to sell its bonds until Bancroft has the agreement for a new location
- Bancroft must immediately begin looking for a new site and prepare plans for construction
- Once the District purchases the property, Bancroft may remain on the property for 2 years while it is building its new facility; if it goes beyond 2 years, it will have to pay rent of $400,000/$500,000 for years 3 & 4. It must vacate no later than 4 years—if it doesn't, Bancroft is subject to repayment of all the debt service paid by the District from the beginning until it vacates.
Ownership: will be divided between the District and the Borough based on the funding available for open space use and affordable housing.
Bond referendum: likely to be around $16 million less all open space funding obtained and turf field funding (if provided).
In This article
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Haddonfield Board of Education
1 Lincoln Ave, Haddonfield, NJ -
Haddonfield Municipal Hall
242 Kings Hwy E, Haddonfield, NJ
Jim
7:28 am on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Having these 3 meetings in July when more that half of Haddonfiled residents are vacation is not right.These meettings should be held once per month starting in Sept. Everyone knows wthe BOE and commsisioners have only one agenda to over pay for land next to high school and the tax payers will be in more debt and additionial in over head than the Borough can afford for one sports field that they can get for free with no debt and receive a tax ratable from private developer.
Jack S
12:01 pm on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Jim,
You're entirely correct. The Borough creates the impression that it wants as little public input and sunlight on this matter as possible, especially since it announced this plan on July 4th eve. I think residents need to see through the efforts to spin this proposal as only costing a "few hundred dollars per year per household." The true costs of the proposal for taxpayers are much greater when one factors in ongoing maintenance, redevelopment, interest, reissuance of any bonds, etc. I guess presenting the proposal as potentially costing each household "tens of thousands of dollars" over a 10 or 20 year period doesn't have quite the same ring to it, does it?
Herb Hess
1:46 pm on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
There are many activities of the Borough, the Board of Education, and the County which costs each of us residents "tens of thousands of dollars" over a 10 or 20 year period. One of the big differences here is that we are discussing purchasing an asset (real estate) which has several potentially beneficial uses for our residents, our visitors, our schools, and even our environment.
I do agree that the process (like most public dialog processes in town) is flawed and would like to see public dialog in the fall. Fortunately we have online media to keep the discussion going and determine if buying Bancroft makes sense or not.
I think it does.
I would like to see Haddonfield position itself strategically for school consolidation which I believe is inevitable. Redevelopment and housing opportuntities should be pursued downtown (full disclosure - I do own 2 small downtown properties) where residents will have walking access to shops, churches, transit, government, and entertainment.
We have already seen interest by two firms in building or expanding facilities for assisted living in town. That might be a good fit for a part of the Bancroft property. The idea is supported by long-term demographics as well. Owning the land would allow the Borough to negotiate a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) from such an entity which would likely be a non-profit.
There are plenty of opportunities to offset Bancroft's costs through better management at the Borough and BOE level.
Jack S
4:13 pm on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Herb,
The other big-ticket items to which you allude are largely essential activities: Police, fire, road, basic education, etc. The purchase of Bancroft, while it may have some benefits, can hardly be said to be essential. Regrettably, many essential activities the Borough is supposed to be supporting, such as road repair, have been languishing for years. Commiting local residents to $16 million upfront -- and many millions in opex on a continuing basis -- for a nonessential purchase is a luxury Haddonfield cannot afford now or in the foreseeable future. After all, the Commissioners just recently announced a 7% hike in our local tax component to cover a shortfall in our property tax reserve resulting from residents who cannot/will not pay their taxes. The Borough's proposal for Bancroft is based on the false premise that the municipality can continually raise property taxes to fund the purchase, and that there will always be someone willing to pay the higher taxes. Similarly, we've seen this mindset before in the housing bubble, municipalities across the country that are now declaring bankruptcy, and more locally in towns like Collingswood.
Martha
7:33 pm on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Thank Goodness Bancroft is being sold.. It gives families with special needs loved ones, especially those who's loved ones who were beated, sexually assaulted, neglected and some have died due to the carelessness of their "untrained" staff and "untrained" administrators, away out.. No respect and no regard for the persons whom they serve.. I guess with all the lawsuits against Bancroft, especially the most recent one after a family's struggle to deal with all the abuse, bruises, stitches to his head after a staff beat his head... and then following his death when an uncapable staff neglected to keep his eyes on him, this poor young man - non verbal,. choked on a wrapped bagel, got into van "by himself" and choked to death. Shame on the legislatures in Bancrofts district for not protecting our most vulnerable.... It is time Haddonfield residents knew the truth
Martha
7:56 pm on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Glad Bancroft is being sold... Should have happened a long time ago...Believe me, I am happy for the clients.
Martha
7:58 pm on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Years and years staff to client abuse of all types occurred there. It is a shame that the Haddonfield Residents were not aware...
Jeff H
2:30 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
WHY ARE WE USING ASSESSED VALUE AS A BASIS FOR THIS TRANSACTION? WHEN ISTHE LAST TIME ANYONE USED ASSESSED VALUE FOR ANY REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION? AN ASSESSMENT PERFORMED AT THE TOP OF THE REAL ESTATE MARKET DOESN'T APPEAR TO BE THE BEST DEAL FOR THE BUYERS!
Concerned taxpayer
2:37 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
How much sense does it make to bond for an "asset" that is worthless from day 1 (namely Bancroft's nonhistoric school buildings?) These buildings, for demolition in any scenario (even if Bancroft stays), will likely be included in the BOE's appraisal to reach the letter of intent price. So if the referendum passes, we are paying principal plus interest for 20 years for structures that will have been demolished. Our borough and BOE negotiators appear to have been working to serve Bancroft's interests rather than Haddonfield taxpayers.
Concerned taxpayer
1:33 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
Herb, school regionalization is not inevitable. It has to be approved in a referendum which will Haddonfield will not do. Beside, between the cost for new buildings and raising the payscale of the lower-paid district to the higher paid district's payscale, which has to happen in regionalization, and the busing (if you bus on kid you have to bus all of them), it will not save districts money to regionalize. What might work is to share administrators between districts.
Oh, and those enrollment projections are pure fiction to justify need for a new building, another bond...
Ask about Bancroft's debt. Public filings may tell you some of the story. And who gave them those loans in the first place? That should be public information. Are the same people, though with different institutions, still involved?