A proposal to build an addiction treatment center at the Bancroft School site has accomplished the seemingly impossible: Uniting Haddonfield's often-fractious grassroots.
A rally in support of an outright borough purchase of the 19-acre Kings Highway campus is set for 6:45 p.m. Thursday at the Haddonfield municipal building.
"People are pretty consistent in their feeling that a drug rehab doesn't belong next to our high school and near one of our elementary schools," says Lindsay Vest, a spokeswoman for the Haddonfield Citizens Group.
The group acknowledges that treatment facilities are needed. And as a Class of 2007 rehab graduate, I certainly agree.
But the Bancroft site -- a scenic expanse of high ground at the gateway to town and adjacent to schools and parks -- has far better potential uses. It should be preserved entirely, or in part.
Since forming last summer, Haddonfield Citizens -- the rally's organizer -- has attracted 300 members and more than 675 "likes" on Facebook. "This is an issue the borough can really come together on if people have the information," Vest says.
"I've been struck by the fact that the town overall seems to be bonding" in opposition to a rehab on the site, says Jeff Baron, a lawyer for Haddonfield Citizens.
Developer Brian O'Neill, who wants to build a 160-bed inpatient treatment facility as part of the Recovery Centers of America chain, is challenging the borough zoning board's decision requiring him to obtain a use variance for the project. His proposal to build a similar facility in Gloucester Township also has landed in court.
However, what O'Neill calls "very active discussions about a possible settlement" are continuing between his company and the borough. "These discussions have been fruitful and genteel," he says. "Both sides are operating in good faith."
Some of the talk focuses on whether the borough could purchase the entire Bancroft site or a portion of it, with the developer opting to build townhouses rather than a rehab on his portion.
"We're getting much closer" to a settlement, says Mayor Jeff Kasko.
Separately, the borough planning board is set to hold a public hearing Thursday on the Bancroft site's status as an area in need of redevelopment. A study recently commissioned by the board affirmed earlier findings that the site, much of it occupied by outmoded classroom and dormitory buildings, meets redevelopment zone criteria.
Such a designation would give the borough more options for determining the site's future, whether or not it continued to be privately owned.