Haddonfield voters rejected a $12.5 million bond referendum Tuesday for the public purchase of the 19.2-acre Bancroft property at 425 Kings Highway East.
The final vote was 2,387 against and 2,136 in favor of the referendum, according to unofficial returns. The total does not include provisional votes cast on Election Day, which could take up to two days to count.
"Who says you can't beat city hall?" said Brian Kelly of Haddonfield United, a group that spearheaded opposition to the proposal. "We really made our voices heard on this one."
Opponents said the purchase was overpriced and would just be the beginning of more tax increases needed to cover spiraling costs, none of which will be addressed with the Bancroft referendum, they say. The inclusion of $1.2 million for an artificial turf athletic field was also a point of contention with some.
"When you lose, there's lots of factors," BOE President Steve Weinstein said. "Turf was a factor, taxes was a factor, fears about Radnor was a factor."
In fact, Radnor Field may have been the key factor in deciding this referendum. The high school athletic field is located in the district that turned out the most no votes by far in voting Tuesday. The referendum went down by 218 votes in that district, 629 to 411. The referendum was defeated by a total of 251 votes, according to unofficial results.
Some residents there were concerned the school board would eventually try to sell Radnor if it developed more athletic fields on a newly acquired Bancroft property. The fear was it could be converted into residential housing, including an affordable-housing component.
Voter turnout was heavy in the hotly contested election. The rejection halts the joint public purchase of the property by the Board of Education and the borough. The total cost of the $16 million purchase and development plan was was reduced by at least $3.5 million in open-space preservation funds from the borough, county and state.
"That money is gone now," Commissioner Ed Borden, who also sits on the borough planning board, said about the preservation money. "The prospects for a public purchase are clearly dead. We have to step back and see what happens."
Bancroft officials released a statement Tuesday detailing what they intend to do next.
"We are excited to begin the process of modernizing our campus, so we can provide the best possible services here in Haddonfield for many, many years to come," said Toni Pergoin, Bancroft's president and CEO. "We know there will be challenges along the way, but we look forward to working proactively with borough representatives to make the process as smooth and positive as possible for everyone."
Proponents of the plan said the purchase was necessary "to seize the opportunity of acquiring this historic and prominent 'gateway into Haddonfield' for use by the community at large, for educational and recreational purposes, to allow for possible future school expansion and development of a high school campus, and to secure an open space legacy."
But in the end, the vision of what could be was outweighed by the concerns.
Stay with Patch for more on the Bancroft referendum. To get Patch's breaking news alerts via email, sign up here.
BTW, now that this issue is behind us. let's all educate ourselves on the budgets and where our high taxes are going so we can fight back. Sue, BOE and municipalities are covered by separate laws. Some town's and BOE's have created shared service agreements so they can make improvements and access the open space funds which are only for municipal use. I know Bridgewater up north has done this. They have 4 turf fields I also want to see this report that has been discussed
We already use shared services, Joe T, between the Boro and the BOE. This has been very cost effective for us. Example is when the BOE maintenance staff repainted our Library two years ago, saving us from paying prevailing wage to an outside contractor. We simply paid the wages we would have paid anyway.
No I do not have the report. It is possible that someone in Haddonfield United does. I am sure Steve Weinstein does and if we had open government, it should be shared with the voters. I am considering going to the next B of E meeting and asking for it if no one has it. I was pleased to see that Haddonfield United has been documenting photographically some of the neglect and hope this continues. My suggestion would actually be that the B of E publish the maintenance needs and list them in order of priority. Some things, such as repainting rooms could actually be done on a day of service. We have a day of service for MLK in which people often go and paint and fix up school buildings and parks. I believe the town could harness the energy of the citizens with a Day of Service for Haddonfield to get some of the stuff done, cleanup of the downtown area, parks and minor repairs that we do not apparently have the money for.
http://www.haddonfield.k12.nj.us/Home_Page_Attachments/LongRangeFaciltiesPlan.pdf Of course, most people did not read it (Yes and No), but it looks like a significant amount of the $28M in repairs has already taken place, and the rest are planned as a part of the normal "routine" maintenance and is included in the annual capital budget.
http://www.haddonfield.k12.nj.us/Home_Page_Attachments/LongRangeFaciltiesPlan.pdf Of course, most people did not read it (Yes and No), but it looks like a significant amount of the $28M in repairs has already taken place, and the rest are planned as a part of the normal "routine" maintenance and is included in the annual capital budget.
Elizabeth Haddon Roof replacement/rear section $750,500 Security cameras $50,000 Replace existing boilers $250,000 Replace (2) roof top units $200,000 Central School replace existing boilers $250,000 HVAC constuction $312,000 electrical construction $62,000 (level one) HVAC constuction $375,000 (level two) Electrical constuction $93,000 (level two) security cameras $50,000 Middle school Emergency generator $200,000 security cameras $50,000 Exterior renovations $312,000 Interior renovations $881,000 HVAC construction $718,750 (level two) Electrical construction $750,000 (level two) Tatum Replace existing boilers $250,000 security cameras $25,000 renovate toilets $100,000 High school - With exterior and interior renovations, HVAC construction, electrical constuction ($2,523 750 alone) and plumbing the cost is 7,423,750 million. Just on the first level alone. Feel free to present these facts to the BOE.
I sure would love to meet Mrs. Silance Ishgulden on this topic.
It's not that I don't trust you, but I would like to do the math myself.
7:00 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013 As Jack S said above and perhaps you did not see his report A copy of the report is here: http://haddonfieldunited.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/haddonfield-schools-ga-1.pdf You can do your own math. And you can also wonder why it is left to Haddonfield United to inform the public about school board reports. You would think that would be the responsibility of the elected school board members since they serve us and should answer to us, the voters.
The BOE, the Commissioners, and the developers all told the residents that in order to prepare for our future we needed to shoulder the costs of this development. Not once did I hear any of the triumvirate mention what they were going to do to help ease the cost of this project. What expenses could the BOE or our town cut to help the greater good of the community? What spending cuts would the BOE make? Everyone else in the private sector pays for benefits and their retirement. Why can't the public sector in Haddonfield do the same? Or how about our public works department or our town halls combine with other municipalities to help ease costs? Nope. It was always "we need to do this for the future, and YOU taxpayers need to pay this." This expectation is not realistic today. The private sector is tired of supporting everyone else while their standard of living stagnates. In any negotiation you have to give some in order to get something in return. That did not happen and a poorly communicated plan by our public servants resulted in the defeat of a great idea
Case in point, the Lizzie Haddon roof and painting projects are already complete. That finished this summer.
Before we pursue any vision of the future we have to make sure our house is in order.