There is a growing fear among residents that Radnor Field, which the Board of Education (BOE) owns, will be sold for private development.
This fear first took hold a year ago when the BOE proposed to sell Radnor for private development to help pay for a $32 million plan to buy Bancroft, develop four new turf fields and construct a 32,000 square foot academic center and library.
To its credit, the BOE later scaled back its initial plan for Bancroft, reduced the initial cost of the proposed referendum and, in its words, took the sale of Radnor off the table.
Unfortunately, the BOE has so far failed to take a very simple step to reinforce its commitment to “protect” Radnor Field.
This simple step involves the conveyance of a public recreation and education easement to the Borough.
This easement would not in any way restrict the BOE’s management and use of Radnor Field but it would limit its unilateral ability to sell Radnor because the Borough Commissioners would first have to release the easement in order for a sale to take place.
Why should we be concerned about Radnor Field?
It is much more than a group of High School athletic fields. It has served organized baseball, and more recently soccer leagues, for more than 60 years; is a popular place for pick-up games of soccer, football and baseball; supports Frisbee games, kite flying, model plane flights, rocket launching and other activities; and, most importantly, gives parents a convenient place to introduce young children to many outdoor sports and games.
People make use of Radnor Field virtually every day.
Equally important, the sale of Radnor will have tax impacts (possibly good, possibly bad) on the Borough and could increase our affordable housing obligation. These issues, along with recreation impacts, are within the Borough Commissioners’ purview, not the BOE’s.
That is why it’s so important for our Commissioners, the people we elect to tackle town-wide needs, to have a formal say in any proposed sale of the field.
It took only a few days for hundreds of residents to sign a petition calling on the BOE to convey the easement.
The BOE should do so without delay because there is simply no logical reason not to …unless they insist on retaining their unilateral authority to sell Radnor Field without voter or Borough Commission approval.
John Stokes
