Haddonfield Officials Approve Plan To Buy Bancroft School Property
HADDONFIELD, NJ (CBS) -- Officials in Haddonfield have voted to approve the plan to buy the 19-acre Bancroft School property.
Recovery Centers of America will seek an alternate location for its new drug and alcohol treatment center.
Bancroft has been working to relocate for years, but at least two sale proposals had been beaten back by residential opposition. The last idea, to use the Haddonfield property for a drug treatment center, didn't sit well with the people either.
Enter Mayor Jeff Kasko, who brokered a compromise with a private developer who wanted to put the drug treatment facility there. Kasko described the deal to KYW Newsradio as "a mixed use of some private development of possible age restricted townhomes for seniors as well as some public use that we'll have for the town."
The proposed developer will put the drug treatment facility elsewhere.
"I believe this is a win for all involved- for Haddonfield's residents, for Bancroft and for RCA. I am glad we could work this out." RCA's Brian O'Neill said after the vote.
Kasko says this decision is just a first step. A specific development plan is still needed, not to mention some $12 million to make this work. But between grants and anticipated tax revenue from the townhomes, Kasko says the plan will likely not affect taxpayers.