Bancroft Developer Sues Haddonfield Over Drug Treatment Center Plan

HADDONFIELD, NJ — A lawsuit calls for a settlement over how to redevelop Haddonfield’s historic Bancroft campus to be tossed out, and the way cleared for a residential drug treatment center or up to 400 residences.

Developer 2 Hopkins Lane filed the civil lawsuit in Camden federal court against the borough and its zoning board on Dec. 6, court records show. The developer claims Haddonfield violated the New Jersey Law against Discrimination and the Americans with Disabilities Act, saying officials blocked plans to build the residential treatment facility, and denied its application “wrongfully and with discriminatory intent.”

Headquartered in Pennsylvania, 2 Hopkins Lane is an affiliate of Recovery Centers of America, which provides “cutting edge treatment for drug and alcohol addiction in neighborhood-based residential treatment facilities around the country.”

“2HL’s patients are qualified persons under the ADA with disabilities that affect one or more major life activities of central importance to most people’s daily lives, including abstaining from alcohol or drug abuse,” the developer argues.

Haddonfield purchased the Bancroft School property in 2016, agreeing with 2 Hopkins Lane (2HL) to let the developer option to buy part of it for age-restricted townhomes. The developer had originally planned the residential drug treatment center on the 19.2-acre parcel adjacent to Haddonfield Memorial High School, but agreed to cut that out of the plan in a 2016 settlement agreement with borough officials.

The developer now wants to scrap that agreement.

“Haddonfield entered into the Settlement Agreement to achieve one goal: stop the development and operation of a residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility on the property,” the lawsuit says.

The Borough’s Board of Commissioners said a 2019 redevelopment agreement gives 2HL the right “to construct a 90-unit residential project consisting of 80 owner-occupied, age-targeted market-rate units, and an additional 10 units for very low, low, and moderate-income households.”

“Instead of constructing this project, the Redeveloper has chosen to sue the Borough,” officials said in December.

“The Board of Commissioners intends to vigorously defend against the numerous unsupported allegations made by the Redeveloper and remains committed to complying with its constitutional obligation to provide affordable housing while the litigation progresses.”

The now-vacant Bancroft NeuroHealth (Bancroft School) campus is adjacent to Haddonfield Memorial High School. On the property is the historic building where Margaret Bancroft established a school for children with special needs in her home, known as Lullworth Hall. Last November, the borough said it reached an agreement with a local LLC to potentially redevelop the aging building, according to the Courier-Post.

Bancroft first approached Haddonfield commissioners and the Board of Education about a sale in 2012. The non-profit corporation closed the school at Hopkins Lane and Kings Highway East and moved to an 80-acre campus in Mount Laurel in late 2017. Bancroft is headquartered in Cherry Hill, according to its website. Bancroft offers services around the region for children and adults with intellectual and emotional disabilities and autism, as well as people in need of neurological rehabilitation.

In 2013, Haddonfield voters rejected a $12.5 million bond referendum that would have allowed the borough and the Haddonfield Board of Education to buy the Bancroft parcel.

The borough has statements, plans, and documents for the site’s redevelopment dating back to 2005 on the Haddonfield website.

Throughout the lawsuit, 2 Hopkins Lane alleges the borough failed in its contractual obligations to redevelop the site.

2HL also claims that Haddonfield should lose its court-ordered immunity against builder’s remedy lawsuits, which currently is in place until 2025.

The developer also seeks unspecified monetary damages and a permit to develop 400 market-rate units with 20 percent set aside for affordable housing.