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This has apparently been a rather contentious issue in Haddonfield. Residents are currently voting on a school district plan to issue $12.5 million in bonds to acquire the 19 acre Bancroft site in Haddonfield that lies next to the high school. The plan includes expanding the facilities at the high school and using some of the land for common recreation areas/preservation.
A vocal group of residents is opposed to the plan as it will cost the average Haddonfield homeowner $189 per year in additional property taxes (based on the average $490,000 assessment). They also are opposed to the overall district plan for the site and that the borough is treating this as a "once in a lifetime" chance to acquire the property.
Those in favor cite the need for the expanded facilities and point out that if the borough fails to acquire the property now, it could be sold to a developer. Once in developer hands the borough would have very little control over what happens to the property.
It should be done. A former mayor of Haddonfield made an interesting comment, something along the lines of: NJ is broke, and sooner or later some drastic changes will have to happen. One of those changes may be phasing out small schools in favor of regional ones. If HMHS adds this property, it stands a much better chance of making it through any future school closings.
Now, I personally don't believe major school closings will happen. People would never allow it to. But it's something to think about.
It didn't pass. Lost by 250 votes. 2387 to 2137 or something close to that.
The plan was half baked and didn't have a lot of the future development determined.
It will be interesting to see what happens. The part of the whole thing that surprised me the most was that Bancroft got involved in the whole thing by making a donation to a group that was formed to counter the people that were opposed to it. Obviously Bancroft had a real interest in trying to make this deal happen. Perhaps the threat of a developer purchasing the land is pretty much fabricated. I briefly worked at Bancroft when I first got out of college as a landscaper. Bancroft was very limited in what they could build on the site and how much of it could be developed. I'm sure the town could easily prevent anything "undesirable" from being built via zoning ordinances.
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