Opinion: Concerns about Ardrossan Deal

To the Editor:

As the only new Radnor Commissioner to join the Board this year, my concerns with the recently approved Ardrossan deal are threefold.  

First, the price is too high.  I have heard from several real estate professionals in our area, none of them indicated that the price to be paid for this property is appropriate under the circumstances.  They all agree that the parcels to be acquired by the Township are too expensive, given that much of the land is susceptible to flooding, is steep slope area and consists of a backfilled quarry area.

If it were $3 or $4 million, then it would be a much fairer deal for the Township.  But because of the way that this Board of Commissioners approached the negotiations, they were not able to secure the best deal for the taxpayers.

If this was truly valuable land, you would see some private donors – where is the Radnor Conservancy’s contribution to this purchase?  They may be contributing a few hundred thousand dollars towards this purchase, but the vast majority, $11 million, is our money as taxpayers.

Since its inception, the Radnor Conservancy’s goal was to purchase Ardrossan; especially when Ms. Schaefer was involved as its founder and Director several years ago.  Elaine has gone from an active insider at the Conservancy, to president of the Board of Commissioners, and she has found a way to use the public’s money for the Conservancy’s purposes. 

It was amazing that Commissioner Jim Higgins actually concurred, as he asked the members of the Radnor Conservancy to stand up and take credit just after the Commissioners voted 4-3 to use $10 million in taxpayer funds to buy the parcels at the Commissioners’ meeting on December 16th.   (It should be noted that Jim’s support was in stark contrast to his statements in a pre-election TV interview in October of 2011, when he all but stated that he would not vote for the purchase.)

This is a prime example of how a private, special interest group used its influence and connections to get all of Radnor’s taxpayers to pay for its goals.  Whether you agree with the purchase or not, we should not allow private special interest groups to orchestrate major expenditures by the Township.

We must remember that Ardrossan is not being saved, it will be developed.  Further, the Board of Commissioners is likely to provide a density modification to the developer, which will allow the same amount of development that there would have been without the purchase.  Taxpayer’s should not subsidize development as is occurring here. 

Second, this purchase will result in a huge increase in indebtedness of the Township.  This purchase will mean a more than 20% increase in our outstanding public debt.  We cannot know what interest rates will be in two weeks, let alone two years when the bonds are issued.  So while we are projecting that this will result in approximately a 5% tax increase, it may be more if interest rates rise between now and when bonds are actually issued.  A fed taper, could result in a Radnor taxpayer squeeze with respect to debt service.

Plus, it really is not reasonable to rely on a seven year old referendum that was general in nature in justifying this $10 million in new electoral debt.  The Commissioners’ own advisory committee said that this purchase should be specifically approved by the electorate.

My third concern relates to fiscal priorities.  Just a few months ago, this Board of Commissioners told us that our financial picture is so dire, that we need to raise more revenue from the taxpayers and non-profit organizations in the Township – the situation was so serious that we need to increase taxes (in the form of a storm water fee) so that we could spend $2 million on storm water infrastructure.

If those issues are so serious that the taxpayers have been asked to pay more money today, how is it that this Board has determined that we have $10 million to spend on this land, that many of the Township residents will never even see, let alone use?

It seems obvious that if there are infrastructure issues in the Township necessitating a tax increase (they call a storm water fee), that need should take precedence over recreational spending.  Especially since the Township already has 644 acres of open space, and the several historic buildings which it can no longer care for properly without private assistance. 

The Board of Commissioners has indicated that they have heard from scores of residents on this purchase – but there are about 9000 taxpaying units in the Township.  Only a small fraction of them have weighed in.  The clear majority of the people that I have heard from are not in favor of this purchase.

Elaine wrote just before her re-election that "it is ultimately the community’s decision” as to whether the Township will purchase some portion of the property associated with the Ardrossan mansion.  Yet after the election, four Commissioners took it upon themselves to make that decision without any type of public vote.  Elaine knew that it would never really be up to the community.  She probably thought that the people would not vote for her, if she made it clear she was going to raise taxes to subsidize the development of Ardrossan; so she ended up misleading the public on this point.  Similarly, before his election in 2011, Jim Higgins indicated that he was skeptical of the purchase, but voted for it anyway two years later.

The Board of Commissioners also conveniently did not distribute the notice of the new storm water tax bill until just after the election.  Again, it would likely have made a difference if the voters had a copy of their new bill before the election. 

If the Board of Commissioners are sure that they have the support of the public, they should let them provide a direct approval, especially for a hugely expensive land acquisition.  They should not mislead the voters before the election, and ignore the constituents after they collect the votes from those who relied upon their promises.   

Richard F. Booker

Commissioner Elect, Radnor Second Ward