Town to Suggest No Special Permit for Boy Scout Camp Course

A Baiting Hollow couple, upset with an outdoor challenge course being built about 100 feet off their property on the neighboring Boy Scout Camp, has hired an attorney who has refuted the process through which the course could be approved.

But the assistant town attorney in charge of the application has suggested that as of now, all is going on as it should be.

Bob and Mary Oleksiak, who have lived at their Silver Beech Lane property for 24 years, have taken to the press and spread the word at a recent civic association meeting to express their concern at the Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience course that's in the planning stages near the eastern boundary of the 89-acre Boy Scout property.

• Click here to watch a video taken at a Washington COPE course.

The couple's attorney, former town supervisor Phil Cardinale, wrote in a recent letter to Assistant Town Attorney Bill Duffy that the addition should qualify as an expansion to the property's pre-existing, nonconforming use. In other words, because the Boy Scouts owned the property before its current zone (R-80) was set in place, adding to the land's usage within that zone should require a special permit – a permit only the Town Board can grant before going in front of the Planning Board.

Currently, the Planning Board is set to review the site plan at its next meeting, at 3 p.m. on April 18.

While no official response to Cardinale's April 9 letter had been drafted as of Thursday afternoon, Assistant Town Attorney Bill Duffy said it would be his recommendation to stand by the decision to forego a special permit, pointing to another part of the code [Section 108-51(f)] that mentions the Boy Scout property as a nonconforming parcel, so long as its purpose remains as a camp. Duffy noted that any attempt to bring outdoor organizations onto the site would likely have to be controlled, however.

If the Planning Board approves a site plan, the Oleksiaks, or any other neighbor with standing against the use, can challenge the decision before the town's Zoning Board of Appeals should they disagree.

Cardinale, reached Thursday after hearing the town attorney's suggestion, said he still disagrees.

"That (section of the code) doesn't mention any expansion of use," he said. "It can continue to exist, but it doesn't say anything about expanding."

The Oleksiaks attended Wednesday night's Calverton Civic Association meeting at Riley Avenue Elementary School, where members of the civic decided to show up at next week's meeting and draft a letter as a group to support the couple.

Mary – who is currently battling cancer – said that after living at their Silver Beech Lane home for 24 years, the course just behind their property will tarnish their "sanctuary."

Camp Director Jim Grimaldi noted on Friday that "it's unfortunate we have a neighbor who is unhappy ... We're sorry anyone is unhappy. But we have been here for 87 years. We're in the business of getting kids outdoors and that's what we're going to do."

The couple refute the fact that it's a problem with the kids that they have, but rather the sight of the course itself – which, according to plans filed in town hall, include 12 telephone poles to prop up a zip line, cargo net, Burma Brudge and more – and the clearing that will come along with it.  

"Kids have camped back there for years," Mary said. "We see them back there, have offered them waters and food."

"We love the kids," Bob added. "But it's not kids we're going up against here."

Grimaldi added that there isn't anywhere else on the property to site the course.

"If you're familiar with the property, the reason it's a scout camp at all is because it was considered unfarmable land due to all the hills and valleys. There is very little flat ground anywhere."

Should the Planning Board approve the camp's site plan next week, he added that the goal is to have the course open for use by this summer.