In Haddonfield, arts center plan is exciting but needs more scrutiny

I applaud Haddonfield for giving a green light — of sorts — to the Boxwood Arts Theatre and Cultural Center.

The borough commission agreed June 27 to grant supporters of the arts another year to firm up plans for an $11 million facility that would transform the corner of Haddon Avenue and Lake Street into a regional destination.

Boxwood Arts would connect a new 365-seat auditorium and a 4,000-square-foot ballroom to Boxwood Hall, a historic house that residents of the Camden County borough of 12,000 have cherished and argued over for years.

The first floor of the handsome 1799 structure would become an art gallery, the ballroom in the new building could host weddings or other events, and a sylvan patch along the rear of the property would not be developed.

This proposal by the nonprofit Boxwood Foundation is ambitious, exciting, and deserving of serious consideration. It also raises serious questions.

Is the right size for the site and for the borough?

Would a brand-new arts organization attract enough patrons to be a going concern?

And would patrons be willing to park in the PATCO lot and then cross two busy thoroughfares?

I have my doubts.

Officials insist the commission's vote does not constitute preliminary approval of the project itself. And while the commissioners were unanimous in supporting the resolution, their constituents are not.

"I'm in favor of the arts, but where's the parking going to be? I just think the location is wrong," says Dennis Dahms, 62, an operations manager who has lived for 18 years on Lake Street. That's where I encountered him as I walked around the neighborhood on Sunday.

"What happens when Haddonfield Friends School and the theater both have events at the same time?" says retired educator Jamie Kane, who lives on Hawthorne Avenue. Accommodating an arts center, she adds, would be "a very tall order for a very small area."

Boxwood Hall faces a busy stretch of Haddon Avenue and backs up on a lovely, eminently walkable, and densely populated enclave of leafy streets.

There is some support for Boxwood Arts in the neighborhood. "We're excited at the opportunity to collaborate with them  and expose more kids to the arts," says Matthew Sharp, the head of school, or principal, at Haddonfield Friends.

Others worry the center will create gridlock on the neighborhood's narrow, one-way streets, and turn quiet evenings and weekends into noisy occasions.

"The [June 27] meeting was stacked against us," says Brian Poliafico, who lives with his wife and two young children in a house adjacent  to the 1.5 acre, borough-owned Boxwood property.

The 42-year-old insurance professional has started a "Save Lake Street" Facebook page, where a post-vote post proclaims,  "WE WILL keep fighting!" Some of Poliafico's neighbors also are in a fighting mood, including Matthew Doherty, whose rented cottage behind Boxwood Hall will be torn down if the center becomes a reality.

"It doesn't feel like the borough is approaching this in a very transparent way," says Doherty, 55, who works in corporate communications.

"They have never pursued any other viable option for the property. Since day one, they've been doing a dance with Boxwood Arts," he adds, describing the nonprofit foundation led by Haddonfield Plays and Players president David Stavetski as a "bunch of Haddonfield insiders."

Stavetski was unavailable Monday. In an email, Boxwood spokeswoman Megan York Parker says the group "is very interested in accommodating the concerns of the neighbors at every step" of the process.

Haddonfield is the sort of town where seemingly every citizen is well-informed, possessed of strong opinions and prepared to do battle on social media or elsewhere. Particularly regarding matters that involve redevelopment, and especially, redevelopment in their neighborhood.

"There's always a frustration that 'the fix is in' when someone feels something will or won't go their way," says Mayor Neal Rochford. "What happened was, Boxwood Arts came to us and asked whether they could have some more time to make it work. Basically our response was, we will give you another year, but if nothing happens, we will have to go to a plan B or C."

I ask the mayor whether the borough shouldn't already be looking into possible alternatives, and he says that possibility is being discussed.

So during the year that the Boxwood Foundation will have a chance to put its ducks in a row, why not give the public a chance to be heard? Why not hold a community forum — as was done during the fierce fight over the future of the Bancroft School property?

Rochford says such a forum would be a good idea.

I couldn't agree more.