Mayor Says Dispute Over Sale Price of Bancroft Shouldn't Delay a Long-Awaited Redevelopment Plan

Mayor Tish Colombi and other borough officials said Thursday the gap between what they think the Bancroft property on Kings Highway is worth and what Bancroft officials think it is worth isn’t necessarily going to slowdown a long-awaited sale and redevelopment there.

Bancroft officials spoke at a planning board meeting Tuesday. They warned borough officials that they valued their property, property that has been held by the center for aiding people with developmental disabilities for the past 128 years, at $15 million. That’s $3 million more than the borough valued it.

Bancroft officials said they need enough money to relocate their historic campus elsewhere and $12 million might not be enough.

“We absolutely must sell our property at fair-market value,” said Joe Flamini, Bancroft’s chief operating officer. “If we are unable to get a fair-market value for our property, we cannot move. Relocation is our first choice.”

The borough and its redevelopment planner used the assessed value of $12 million to calculate the cost of three redevelopment options.

“That’s the value we think it is right now,” Colombi said Thursday. “I understand what they’re saying, but that’s what we think it’s worth right now.”

Just about every one of about two dozen borough residents who attended the meeting Tuesday spoke during public comments.

“I can’t believe that this has not been brought up in any meetings in the past eight years,” said Joe Haro, 71, a longtime borough resident and university administrator. “It’s an embarrassment to the community.”

Chris Maynes, another borough resident lectured the planning board for nearly 25 minutes about the value of open space and a public purchase of the property.

“Bancroft should be a ‘high priority,’” he said.

Dick Murray, a local retiree, said he favored an option for senior housing on the 18.7-acre Bancroft site.

“It’s too expensive to live here,” he said. “There are lots of people looking to downsize and they have nowhere to go. There are tons of people in this town who want to stay.”

The Bancroft property is seen as one of the last opportunities for large-scale development in this 2.5-mile, nearly 400-year-old town. Many hope to address possibilities for recreational, open-space and tax-generating development.

The three top development options are:

• A public ownership option with the borough and the board of education purchasing the property for active and passive recreation use and public buildings, such as a new library
• Age-targeted townhouses geared toward “empty-nesters” or “young professionals,” with one to two bedrooms
• Senior independent living units similar to existing developments such as Medford Lees or Cadbury

The planning board voted to send the development options to the borough Board of Commissioners, who are expected to make a final decision on what happens next. That decision is not expected before September.

“I’d love for us to come up with a plan that would offer a little bit of what everyone wants,” Colombi said. “I don’t know if that’s possible, but that’s the goal.”