Borough commissioners honored Small Business Weekend last week during their meeting and reminded residents to shop at small businesses this holiday season. Also, updates were given about the Warwick Road, Bancroft and Boxwood properties.
At the meeting on Nov. 24, commissioners gave a proclamation to the Partnership for Haddonfield in honor of Small Business Weekend, which was Nov. 27, 28 and 29. Small Business Weekend asks citizens to shop local, which helps foster economic growth through the creation of jobs and the production of goods and services within the country.
Though Small Business Weekend was last week, residents were asked to continue to shop at small businesses throughout the holiday shopping season.
“We’re happy to support small businesses. We have over 100 small businesses … in our town and what makes downtown so great. We’re happy to be supportive and looking forward to a great shopping season and being supportive of small businesses,” Mayor Jeff Kasko said.
A resident came to the commissioners meeting asking for updates on the Warwick Road, Bancroft and Boxwood properties.
Last year around this time, the 605 Warwick Road property redevelopment was denied at the planning board meeting. The project was to divide the property into three parcels and build three homes on the site. The initial application was denied, an issue being drainage concerns.
At the October meeting, the applicants submitted a change application to the board and the board deemed it complete. They didn’t come back in November, but Commissioner John Moscatelli believes they may come back to the planning board meeting on Dec. 1.
“The initial application went before the planning board, it was denied. They took that to court. They suspended that lawsuit and … a change application has come back in front of the planning board. We had a completeness review back in the beginning of October. We deemed it complete, and they didn’t come back to the planning board in November. We expect to see them on the first. Go forward and present their case again,” Moscatelli said.
Kasko addressed the Bancroft property, saying the borough and Recovery Centers of America are still in talks about the future of the property. RCA is interested in purchasing the property for a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility. The borough is negotiating a potential purchase, according to Kasko. There is no agreement yet, but Kasko said he is hopeful one will be made by the end of the year.
The planning board is still considering the Bancroft property as an area in need of redevelopment. It was determined an area in need of redevelopment in 2005, but commissioners wanted it to be reinvestigated as a reassertion of the 2005 ruling and to create redevelopment plans for the area. A continuation of that meeting on that ruling will be on Dec. 9 at Borough Hall.
The borough is in possession of the Boxwood property. The subdivision plans are ready to go per the borough’s initial plan, which was to subdivide the lot into three parcels: sell the historic building to someone who wants to be a retail property owner; sell the part with the carriage house as a residential property; and then preserve the back portion as a garden. Since that time, a civic group put forward plans, things it might like to do on that site, and the borough is holding off on its initial plans to see if that will happen or if it decides if it is possible.
“We are hoping in the next couple of months we’re going to be able to announce going one way … or actually do the subdivision and work on selling off those properties,” Moscatelli said.
