In a proposal submitted to the Haddonfield planning board this summer, the borough commissioners called for developing the school grounds into a senior living facility with an attached nursing home.
The parcel also would have 10 low- and moderate-cost housing units and five acres of athletic fields.
The plan would "change the neighborhood pretty drastically," said Kim Custer, president of Preservation Haddonfield, a citizens group. "We've spent the last year and a half fighting the demolition of historic homes and these McMansions that have been going up everywhere."
For years, Haddonfield did not meet its affordable-housing requirements. In 2004, the borough was sued by the Fair Share Housing Center, a New Jersey advocacy group that monitors adherence to state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) rules.
The suit was settled this year when Haddonfield agreed to create 37 affordable units in future developments.
The borough commissioners have debated the land's future use since 2006, when they learned of Bancroft's intention to leave and declared the area a redevelopment zone. Under the designation, developers who meet the borough's requirements would receive tax incentives.
Senior housing would be "a very low-impact sort of development," Commissioner Ed Borden Jr. said. "There's obviously not going to be additional children in the schools, and there shouldn't be too much traffic."
In addition, Borden said, "we believe there will be substantial revenue that will help us control taxes."
Many area residents are on the warpath, planting lawn signs to broadcast their opposition to development of the land and holding meetings of like-minded neighbors in their living rooms.
The borough will hold a public meeting on the issue next Monday.
