Haddonfield’s Board of Commissioners selected Woodmont Properties as the conditional redeveloper of the vacant Bancroft property during a work session on March 10.
The property – which once included the Bancroft School and its historic mansion building – has been vacant since the school relocated to its Mount Laurel campus in 2014. In the years since, it has drawn several development proposals rejected by residents and commissioners.
The original plan for Woodmont’s redevelopment would have seen the construction of 120 units across four buildings. An updated proposal presented at the Feb. 10 commissioners’ meeting featured 98 units, of which 86 would be priced at standard market rates and 12 set aside as affordable housing.
Woodmont and the borough now have 180 days to negotiate and finalize the updated plan, including the purchase and sale of the property. The redevelopment project will operate under the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program, which allows builders and developers to make payments to a municipality instead of traditional property taxes.
The commissioners’ decision was a response to the looming threat of a potential builder’s remedy lawsuit. A suit of that nature would allow the Bancroft property to be re-zoned for higher-density housing within the municipality, as long as a portion of units are set aside as affordable.
Because the board of education failed to purchase the site when it was available in 2013 – and the borough did not designate the parcel as open space when it did buy the land – Bancroft was expected to have a residential development potential of 300 units, with 20% – or 60 units – designated specifically as affordable housing.
While the borough saw the affordable-housing obligation lowered to 10 family rental units, its failure to meet the obligation for five years led to a court order that it begin the redevelopment to create the mandated housing requirement.
Due to the controversial nature of the redevelopment decisions, resident Anne Walters addressed her feelings on the issue while also calling for more civility toward the board.
“I’ve lived in this town since I was 4 years old,” she noted. “I hate the McMansions. I hate knocking down each house with a lot of charm and building a three-story monstrosity. But that being said, I want to thank you (the board) for your hard work and perseverance during a very, very difficult time … We all know that you inherited something that you did the best you could with the information you had at the time, as did the prior administrations.
“This has been going on a long time,” Walters added, “and you cannot blame it on one person. And I would like to address my fellow residents of the borough: These personal attacks have got to stop.”
The board’s March 10 decision also prompted resident David Huehnergarth Sr., who was running for office in the upcoming commissioners’ election, to drop out of the race. He made the announcement in a statement to the Haddonfield in the KNOW Facebook group.
“I have decided to withdraw from the race, as I could not in good conscience see myself overseeing the destruction of what I have fought against for over a year,” he explained in a written statement.
Besides the Bancroft redevelopment, residents at the commissioners’ session brought up concerns about Deputy Mayor Kevin Roche, who voted in favor of the redevelopment while living in a Haddonfield rental after the sale of his home in 2024.
While Roche denied any wrongdoing in a public statement announcing his resignation that went out to the community last year, many residents still expressed concerns that the vote should have been re-cast due to his participation.
