Turf Field Groundbreaking Monday

Supporters celebrate a hard-fought battle for the fields.

BOE VP Letter to the Editor: The Turf Field Debate

Andrew Berlin argues the public-private effort to install artificial turf benefited the borough.

This letter to the editor was submitted by Haddonfield Board of Education Vice President Andrew Berlin. Some thoughts on the largest gift in Haddonfield's history When I was a small child, my parents owned a silver Buick Electra. Each morning in the winter, starting the car required an elaborate choreographed dance with the gas pedal and ignition, followed by letting the car warm up for a few minutes. If one drove the car before it finished warming up, it would stall when trying to accelerate to cross the busy street near our house. Back in the 1970s, this was considered normal - it was simply what cars did on cold days. Today in 2013, if one purchased a car that stalled shortly after starting each time you tried to accelerate on a cold …

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Kim Custer Named Driscoll Award Winner by Civic Association

The announcement was made at the Haddonfield Civic Association annual dinner.

Kim Custer, a tireless advocate for open-space preservation, was named the Alfred E. Driscoll Community Service Award winner last week at the Haddonfield Civic Association annual dinner. Custer was one of the leaders in identifying grants for open-space purchases in the borough, including $4.5 million for the failed $12.5 Bancroft public purchase referendum that voters rejected in January. The association's highest honor was presented to Custer for "her extraordinary volunteerism and, especially, the unique ways she has helped preserve Haddonfield’s 300 years of history while bringing it forward to the borough’s next generation," the civic association said. "Custer has been an active volunteer archivist at the Historical Society of …

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Mrs. Silance Nogud

12:57 pm on Thursday, May 2, 2013

Why don't you illuminate us with where you think the money trail leads instead of throwing out non sequiturs. Where is your evidence of fiscal malfeasance? Where is your emperical evidence that the "majority" of the sidewalks in Haddonfield are not "Walkable"?   more ›

High School Turf Project Sealed at Commissioners Meeting

An agreement with the Haddonfield school board to install artificial-turf fields was unanimously approved Tuesday by borough commissioners.

Another milestone in the saga of artificial turf fields in Haddonfield was marked Tuesday night. The borough Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a shared services agreement with the local Board of Education for the installation and maintenance of two fields, one of which is on municipal property. The agreement clears the way for the installation of turf on the high school football stadium field and an adjacent practice field, which is owned by the borough. Commissioner Ed Borden hailed the project as a “cause for great celebration.” A cadre of residents, who sat through nearly two hours of other agenda items, including the passage of the 2013 municipal budget, didn’t see it that way. “When the school board and borough approved this …

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Turf Field Funding Approved in $1.03M Capital Bond

The funding was approved in May, but where the money will come from is still not settled.

The borough Board of Commissioners approved a $1.03 million capital bond this week that includes $397,000 to help pay for the installation of an artificial turf field. The resolution passed at the end of a meeting extended by an hour-long presentation of citations to 50 honorees for the borough's annual Women's History Month. The commissioners approved a plan to spend $365,000 for the artificial turf field in May in front of about 200 people who turned out to support or oppose the measure. An additional $22,000 was included in the funding approved Tuesday for engineering and other professionals. The borough's funds are part of just more than $1 million needed to install turf at the Haddonfield Memorial High School football stadium field …

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Susan Hoch MD

7:59 pm on Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Brian, do you or anyone know how we pay the Borough Engineer? Is he paid an hourly rate (billable hours) or a yearly retainer? If the former, it would be in his self interest and that of R and V to redo plans as much as possible to collect as much taxpayer money as they could. If he draws a salary, irrespective of how many plans he has to do, then R and V would not be making money everytime Todd …   more ›

Turf Field Money Will Be Bonded—for Now

Haddonfield commissioners agreed to use capital-improvement funds for high school turf-field project.

The Haddonfield Board of Commissioners on Monday agreed to include the cost of installing artificial turf on an athletic field adjacent to the high school campus in its annual capital improvement bond issue. But they also agreed to take a second look at the funding after having a "conversation" with Bancroft Neurohealth about the future of its 19.2-acre property. Voters rejected a $12.5 million bond referendum last month to fund the purchase. The commissioners and borough Administrator Sharon McCullough tossed around the idea of paying for part or all of the turf-field project out of a local open-space tax fund that currently has a balance of $550,000. Commissioner Jeff Kasko floated the idea of paying up to 25 percent of the turf costs …

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Bancroft and Turf Fields on Commissioners Agenda

Haddonfield borough commissioner meet in a work session.

The borough commissioner met Monday evening for a work session. The work sessions are typically meetings to discuss public policy and actions but not necessarily vote on resolutions or ordinances. No votes are expected in tonight's meeting. Agenda items included a scheduled discussion on the failed effort for a public purchase of the 19.2-acre Bancroft property. Voters rejected the purchase in a Jan. 22 bond referendum. The commissioners also plan to have a discussion about how to pay for the installation of an artificial-turf field on a property adjacent to the high school football stadium near Kings Highway East. They approved a plan in May to spend $356,000 as part of a just over $1 million project to install turf on their field and the…

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Just When You Thought the Bancroft Issue Was Over...

Commissioner Borden still wants to talk to Bancroft.

Commissioner Ed Borden said Thursday he thinks the borough still needs to "have a conversation" with Bancroft Neurohealth about acquiring its 19.2-acre campus, even though a bond referendum for a public purchase of the land was rejected by voters Tuesday. Borden made the comments to a reporter during a school board meeting Thursday. He was at the meeting for a discussion on school safety. "I'm sure we will have a conversation with Bancroft about where we go from here, about if there are any other alternatives," Borden said. "I think we have an obligation to, at least, have a conversation with them. Bancroft's public statements are that it's over, but I think it's important to have a conversation with them to see if there are any other …

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Haddonfield BOE Meets for First Time Since Bancroft Referendum Failed

The board will hold a regular meeting at the high school library.

The Haddonfield Board of Education is scheduled to gather at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the high school library for a regularly scheduled meeting. The gathering could take on a postmortem air in the wake of the controversial $12.5 Bancroft public purchase referendum defeat on Tuesday. Voters rejected the plan by 251 votes, 2,387 to 2,136, with nearly half of the borough's 9,434 registered voters casting ballots. The defeat effectively kills the joint public effort by the BOE and borough to buy the 19.2-acre Bancroft property at 425 Kings High School East next to the high school. The school board and the borough saw the property as an oasis of possibilities in this nearly built-out, 300-year-old town. The plan was to acquire it for the expansion…

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Bancroft Referendum Rejected by Voters

Voter turnout was heavy for the hotly contested $12.5 million referendum in Haddonfield.

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…

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Brian Kelly

11:56 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013

Dave, The bottom line is how many of the repairs are essential today and how much more they'll be down line. BOE or Borough, they are both inept at maintaining the infrastructure of the town. Our next big expense is the water system. These were just some of factors that contributed to the no vote to Bancroft. We have to fix what we have before we take on more debt. As much as I commend the BOE …   more ›