Bancroft_Basics Facts_2021Apr19_Rev01

“I think the mayor should probably
shut down the website where he’s
posting this nonsense ...”
Judge Nan S. Famular*
CUTTING THROUGH
THE CRAP
ON BANCROFT
Please forgive the language, but there
is SO much misinformation circulating
about Bancroft, and the issue is SO
important for the future of Haddonfield
that we felt it necessary to catch your
attention.
Here are the basics. And key facts.
HERD, April 19, 2021
*10/25/19

The Haddonfield Commissioners have
scheduled a public hearing on Bancroft for
Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at 7:30pm.
WHAT’S THE MEETING ABOUT?
On April 1, 2021, Camden County
Superior Court Judge Nan S. Famular
ordered the Haddonfield Commissioners
to conduct a new public hearing on
Ordinance 2018-01 – a major amendment
to the original Bancroft ordinance (2016-
03) – to record the hearing, and to
provide her with a transcript.
(The Commissioners adopted 2018-01
on February 13, 2018, despite the Planning
Board’s overwhelming disapproval of the
proposed amendments and the passionate
objections of numerous residents.)

Judge Famular ordered the
Commissioners to state and explain,
during this new public hearing, their
“specific reasons for deviating from and
amending the Bancroft Redevelopment
Plan previously adopted by the Borough
in 2016.”
WHO IS JUDGE FAMULAR
AND WHY IS SHE INVOLVED?
The Hon. Nan S. Famular is a judge in
the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law
Division, Camden County.
She is presiding over, and attempting
to resolve, a dispute between the Borough
and a group of residents that includes
two former mayors, Jack Tarditi and Tish
Colombi.

She ordered the Commissioners to hold
a new public hearing on Bancroft because
the minutes of their February 13, 2018
public hearing did not note their specific
reasons for approving amendments to the
redevelopment plan.
The Commissioners do not record their
meetings. Since there is no transcript of
that hearing, the judge says she cannot
evaluate the plaintiffs’ claims that the
Commissioners’ action, in adopting
the amended plan, was “arbitrary and
capricious.”
WHO ARE THE PLAINTIFFS?
The plaintiffs are John J. Tarditi Jr,
Letitia G. Colombi (both former mayors),
Chris Maynes, Ginny DeLong, Richard

Morris, Nils Herdelin, and Daniel
Tompkins.
WHO ARE THE DEFENDANTS?
The defendants are the Borough of
Haddonfield, Mayor Neal Rochford,
Commissioner Jeffrey Kasko, and
Commissioner John Moscatelli.
[Commissioner Moscatelli resigned
and relocated from Haddonfield in
the summer of 2019. Commissioner
Colleen Bianco Bezich was elected to
fill the remainder of his term. She did
not participate in the February 13, 2018
hearing and is not a named defendant.]

WHO IS “HERD”?
HERD is a group of concerned citizens.
The name is an acronym for Haddonfield
Encouraging Responsible Development.
The plaintiffs are all members of HERD.
WHAT DOES HERD WANT?
HERD wants Judge Famular to
order the Commissioners to rescind the
amended Bancroft ordinance (2018-
01) and revert to the original ordinance
(2016-03) and its intent: moderately
priced, moderately sized units for
downsizing seniors, rather than 80
expensive, over-designed, age-targeted
townhomes (plus 10 affordable units),
crammed onto the tight site.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?
At the end of the public hearing on
April 27, 2021, the Commissioners may
vote to adopt Ordinance 2018-01.
If they do vote, it is certain that Mayor
Rochford and Commissioner Kasko will
vote in favor of adopting the ordinance.
It will not go into effect, however, until
after Judge Famular reviews the transcript
and rules in favor of the Commissioners
– if, in fact, she does.
WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT?
If the judge finds in favor of the
defendants (the Commissioners), the
Bancroft development will be able to
proceed. (Well ... maybe. See below.)

If the judge rules in favor of the
plaintiffs (HERD, in effect), the developer
will have to redesign the project to comply
with the original redevelopment plan – up
to 70 townhomes or up to 140 flats (plus
the required number of affordable units).
If the developer decides that the project
is no longer feasible, he can notify the
Borough that he wishes to withdraw.
Under the terms of his agreement with the
Borough, he is entitled to request a “walkaway”
payment of $600,000.
[SIDE NOTE: Several years ago, former
Commissioner John Moscatelli said that
if Brian O’Neill (the developer) told the
Borough he wanted to pull out of the deal,
“I’d sign the check tomorrow.”]

WHAT’S THE “WELL ... MAYBE”?
Even if the judge finds in favor of the
Commissioners and the development is
able to proceed, the developer still faces at
least one minor and one major hurdle.
WHAT’S THE MINOR HURDLE?
On December 30, 2020, the Borough’s
Historic Preservation Commission voted
to forward the developer’s application
to the Planning Board – despite some
members’ reservations.
Although the Planning Board set a
date in January, the hearing was canceled
because aspects of the application were
defective, as was the public notification of
the Historic Preservation Commission’s

intention to hear the application.
If the developer decides to proceed, the
Historic Preservation Commission will be
required to re-do its examination of his
application. (Another delay that can’t be
blamed on HERD.)
WHAT’S THE MAJOR HURDLE?
On March 2, 2021, the NJ Department
of Environmental Protection informed
the developer that his application relating
to flood hazards and freshwater wetlands
was deficient, in a number of areas.
One example: The developer proposed
using adjoining County and Green
Acres land as part of his stormwater
management plan, but failed to obtain
approval from those entities.

NJDEP also reminded the developer
that his plan must satisfy the requirement
for a riparian zone (a transitional buffer
between land and a river or stream) of
300 feet from Cooper River – which it
doesn’t.
Accordingly, in HERD’s view, the
proposed townhome development simply
cannot be built. There’s not enough room
on the site.
“BUT THE MAYOR SAYS ...”
Mayor Rochford has been particularly
vocal on social media lately, defending
the Commissioners’ actions, castigating
HERD, and calling on the defendants to
drop their lawsuit. Residents should take
what the mayor says with a grain of salt.

In his public statements, he has ignored
uncomfortable aspects of the issue,
shaded the truth, and misrepresented
HERD’s position and actions. But don’t
just take our word for it ...
OF THE MAYOR, THE JUDGE SAYS ...
After the parties appeared in court the
first time (October 2019), Mayor Rochford
claimed victory: “The case was dismissed.”
Subsequently, Judge Famular pulled
no punches in commenting on that
falsehood: “This has become a mess for
one reason and one reason alone, and
that is because the mayor decided to get
on social media and put something that’s
totally untrue. …

“I think the mayor should probably
shut down the website where he’s posting
this nonsense because he led the public
and the members of the Haddonfield
community to believe that the plaintiffs
somehow or other were shut down by
me and were sent packing with their tail
between their legs and that they lost the
lawsuit. They did not.”
OF THE AMENDED ORDINANCE,
JUDGE FAMULAR SAYS ...
“[A]nswer me this then. Why was it
necessary and why does it continue to be
necessary since O’Neill [the developer]
wants this deal so badly, why does it
continue to happen that the borough
is … basically down on its knees to

accommodate the builder’s requirements
and requests?”
DID SOMEONE SAY
“ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS”?
The plaintiffs claim that:
• The amended ordinance is inconsistent
with the Bancroft redevelopment plan and
the Borough’s master plan.
• The redevelopment plan and the
master plan envision housing at Bancroft
for downsizing senior citizens.
• The amended ordinance, which
permits more units (from 70 to 80), was
designed to increase the builder’s profit.
• The amended ordinance, which
permits larger units (from 2,000 square
feet of living space to 2,250), makes the

units no longer modest in size, which was
the objective, so there will be an increase
in price as a result.
• The installation of elevators increases
the cost of the units and deviates from the
concept of living space on one level.
HERD argues that the Commissioners
made these concessions to the developer
without any quid pro quo – Haddonfield
got nothing of value in return – and that
the increase in the number of marketrate
units (from 70 to 80) deprived the
development and its residents of outdoor
communal space.
A BAD MOVE IN 2018
HERD says that the Commissioners’
action in early 2018 to amend the original

ordinance was not in the best interests
of Haddonfield, of its taxpayers, or of
the downsizing “empty nesters” the
Commissioners have said – repeatedly
– the development was intended to serve.
STILL A BAD MOVE NOW!
HERD urges you to attend the Zoom
meeting on Tuesday, April 27 (at 7:30pm)
and to tell the Commissioners to put the
interests of the community ahead of the
interests of the developer and reinstate
the original Bancroft ordinance ... thereby
saving Judge Famular the time and
trouble of having to do it herself.

HERD NEEDS YOUR HELP!
To date, Judge Famular has handed
down three rulings that were favorable to
HERD and unfavorable to the defendants
(the Borough and Commissioners).
Legal action is expensive, but we have
resolved to take it because the stakes are
so high.
Please contribute to the cause.
Mail a check to HERD, PO Box 60,
Haddonfield NJ 08033, or donate online
at GoFundMe.com (search for “Bancroft
Ordinance”).
Thank you!

INCIDENTALLY ...
On social media, Mayor Rochford and
others keep referring to HERD’s “plan” for
Bancroft, implying that HERD submitted
a proposal to the Borough.
HERD never did anything of the kind.
All HERD did was comply with
a developer’s request to transmit a
conceptual plan from the developer to the
Borough. It was not HERD plan, and, in
fact, HERD rejected it as inappropriate.
What HERD did submit to the Borough
was a written statement of principles
that it hoped would help guide the
development of an RFP for age-restricted
housing.

When representatives of HERD met
with the Commissioners in February
2020 to discuss the RFP and HERD’s
statement of principles, Commissioner
Kasko objected to the presence of John
Stokes (a member of HERD, a planner,
and a former member of the Planning
Board whom the Commissioners had
declined to reappoint because of his vocal
opposition to their decisions and actions
on Bancroft).
When HERD argued that Stokes was a
key member of their team, Commissioner
Kasko left the meeting in a huff.
Mayor Rochford followed, leaving
Commissioner Bianco Bezich,
Administrator McCullough, Solicitor
Iavicoli, and Clerk Bennett to represent

the Borough. The meeting collapsed.
An RFP for an age-restricted
development was never drafted. The
Commissioners claim they tried to find a
willing developer, but were unable to do
so.
Judge Famular was not impressed.
After a full year of Borough dawdling
had passed, she agreed to the plaintiff’s
request to re-activate their lawsuit.
If Mayor Rochford and Commissioner
Kasko had met in good faith with HERD
in February 2020, we might not be where
we are today.
ALSO ...
Despite what Mayor Rochford claims,
the plaintiffs’ lawsuit – filed in March

2018 – did nothing to delay progress on
the Bancroft project.
Point 1: An affordable housing lawsuit
– which, incidentally, the Commissioners
did not disclose to the public – predated
the plaintiffs’ lawsuit. The development
could not proceed until after that lawsuit
was settled. (That happened in March
2019.)
Point 2: The project could not move
forward until it was submitted to the
Historic Preservation Commission. That
did not happen until May 29, 2019. The
plaintiffs’ lawsuit did not delay that
application by even one day.
And, incidentally, the developer must
re-do the HPC application because of

deficiencies in the application and in the
public notification process.
NONE OF THIS can be blamed on
HERD!
BOX SCORE
Judge Famular has weighed in three
times on this matter. To date:
Plaintiffs (HERD) 3
Defendants (Commissioners) 0
Please help us fight
the good fight!
Mail a check to HERD, PO Box 60,
Haddonfield NJ 08033, or donate online
at GoFundMe.com (search for “Bancroft
Ordinance”). Thank you!