The Blue Ribbon Group of volunteer residents engaged to review the proposed Medford Crossings project are to congratulated for their excellent review and presentation. Their recommendation that the project as currently structured is not a viable one, is a position that many of us having saying for a number of years. It took an independent review to put it in perspective.
Key to their recommendation was the proposed commitment of a $35 million bond on the part of township residents and the impact of the project on area schools and the cost to the taxpayer of adding new students to our school base. I view the impact on the schools and taxpayers much larger than the naive estimates of those that reviewed this aspect of the project. Added school cost is important since the cost of educating one child in the Medford/Lenape district ranges from $15,000 -$17,000 a year. Thus additional children from homes that will pay only a fraction of the cost in terms of new property taxes increases the burden on existing Medford property owners.
The development as currently proposed adds 617 new residences with two or more bedrooms each. The Blue Ribbon report estimated that only 190 school age children would be added with the project. That is less than one-third child per new unit. You have to remember that 70 to 80 percent of these proposed residences are low cost relative to the average cost of housing in the region. It will likely encourage new residents to take advantage of our excellent schools at a lower cost than they could obtain elsewhere. Therefore if the number of children rises to one per household (and it could go even higher) then the impact on the community would be significantly higher.
Another factor driving the impact on the community is the apparent justification that the landowner believes his land is worth $214,285 an acre. A valuation, which is three to four times the value of developable land in the area. This drives the need for high density housing as proposed to justify development. If the available land were realistically valued there are a number of projects that could return tax revenue for the community without subjecting it to increased tax obligation.
Two views that were raised at the August 1 meeting were that (1) the township should consider doing nothing at the present time, and (2) that since the current council is a lame duck council that any decision should be delayed until a new council takes office in January 2012.
Marion Eggleton
Medford
