Bancroft public sale sparks interest
The public sale of the Bancroft property has sparked the interest of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, which submitted an application to the county to purchase 13 out of 19 acres.
The borough made an announcement on July 18 that the county received the application from NJCF. It would add in its acquisition of more than 130,000 state acres of natural areas and farmland to aide in preservation, according to its website.
According to Dan Keashen, Camden County director of Communication and Community Affairs, the Open Space Advisory Committee must assess the application and appraise the property.
“We haven’t done an appraisal yet,” he said.
The property, which borders Hopkins Pond, a county-owned park, would be added to the county park system; a part of the county’s “grander plan to have a green way and a system of parks and open spaces along Cooper River throughout the county,” Mayor Jeff Kasko said.
Peter Fontaine, a Haddonfield resident, is a member of the Conservation Foundation and previously served as a board member on the Open Space Committee. He met with the commissioners after the application was submitted.
“I thought it was interesting. What they are proposing is to use all public funds from different sources,” Kasko said.
The foundation would most likely seek funding from not only the county, but also the state through Green Acres funding and other organizations, he said.
The county authorized two appraisals, which would be completed by September.
The county and Bancroft must agree on a sale price before entering a discussion with borough officials, borough administrator Sharon McCullough said in a news release.
According to commissioner John Moscatelli, two certified Green Acres appraisers would appraise the 13-acre portion of the property, assessing it at a fair market value.
When the board of education set out to purchase the property, which was denied in a vote by borough residents, the full 19.2 acres was valued at $6.5 million.
“Given the recent sale of the Woodcrest Country Club, 155-acres zoned institutional, for $10.1 million (about $4 million above the appraised value), I am hopeful the appraised value will be well below the appraisal done for the Board of Education. If that occurs, the question will be, will Bancroft be interested in selling at that price,” Moscatelli said.
Moscatelli is “cautiously optimistic” about the purchase. He did not agreed with the board’s decision to purchase the property with local tax dollars.
“I always thought there were benefits to purchasing some, or all, of the Bancroft property. I opposed the referendum primarily on the basis of cost. I thought it was a bad deal for the taxpayers of Haddonfield,” he said.
Kasko also did not agree with the board of education’s referendum. He said this current plan is not using local taxpayers’ money to purchase the property.
It might be six months to a year before the process takes another step forward, Kasko said.
“There is plenty of time to look at it and discuss [the proposal],” he said.
A representative from the New Jersey Conservation Foundation was unable to be reached for comment.
