Proposed Black Bear Campground Development Draws 60 with Concerns to Warwick Planning Board Meeting
The public hearing was continued from June 5.
By Chuck Dill
A Town of Warwick Planning Board meeting on July 17 began with a presentation by the Warwick HG, LLC developers’ engineer, who depicted a proposed site layout for Serenity Ridge at Warwick Campground on an overlay of the old Black Bear Campground layout. The public hearing was continued from June 5. The layout showed the locations of the proposed parking spots for the park model vehicles. These are 10 x 40-foot layouts, nine feet tall. The overall exterior is up to 14 feet high.
The proposal is for 130 campsites, along with other campground amenities, such as roadway improvements, an entrance gate, pavilion, playground, recreation areas, and wading pool. The project is on the eastern side of Wheeler Road, 1400 feet south of Dussenbury Drive (197 Wheeler Rd.).
The units would be delivered to the site, parked and connected to site water, sewer, running water and electricity. They are not designed to be moved after installation at a site. The developer said that the existing water and sewer systems had been tested by engineers and were reported to meet the requirements of the town, county and state for those systems. The developer had also submitted a storm water runoff plan, which was reported accepted by the town.
The developer discussed access to the sites by owners and their families. According to the developer, each owner will be allowed to occupy their site for up to 210 days per calendar year. The properties can not be rented out. Each property owner will be given a property ID number tag for the vehicle they use. That tag will be recorded automatically each time the vehicle enters the property. A maximum of two vehicles per lot is the plan.
About 60 people attended the meeting, and about eight requested to be heard, with a two minute per person time limit. Some clapping of hands followed comments or questions about the site. Most comments came from abutting landowners who had been there for years and were familiar with life adjacent to the Black Bear Campground.
Questions from attendees included the following:
Smoke from camp fires within Black Bear drifting onto adjacent properties has been an issue in the past. Can cooking fires be restricted to propane?
Light from sites within 100 feet of the edge of the property may be an issue after 10 p.m. The speaker requested that light be restricted at sites within 100 feet of the property line and that it be shut off at 10 p.m.
There are no known fences along most of the exterior property limits. Will campground residents be restricted to the campground property?
Who will enforce standard police and fire codes within the property? was another question asked.
The developer said that a set of regulations relating to such issues would be developed and that violation of the rules by one owner or family member will be adequate to have that person removed from the property. Additional violations would be adequate to have all land owners prohibited from the site. He said that such stiff regulations would be adequate for the landowners to enforce the rules among themselves.
Another asked, “Will the owners be responsible to something like an on site home owners association? If so, a copy of rules set up for the HOA by the developer would be nice to see.”
Another attendee was concerned about schools, noting that federal law requiring towns to provide schooling for homeless children may come into effect if an owner with children loses their first home to fire or other damage such that the children and family are forced to live in this new home. How will this be addressed, especially the cost of including these children in the Florida School system, especially when the owners don’t have to pay any taxes?
The developer said that they would be running background checks on the proposed new owners. One person commented that they had reviewed this background check on other similar properties owned by the developer and had determined that it only covered their ability to pay the costs involved with each unit.
Another attendee noted that the vehicles have no building codes. “Who is going to be responsible when they fail in a storm or due to age?” was their question.
Wildlife was also a concern that surfaced. “How will the impact of the site development on local wildlife be addressed? That area is populated by deer, turkeys and as per the name, black bears. How will the landowners be instructed to deal with the animals? Will garbage storage and similar invitations for animals be addressed by the developer? Will the developer prepare rules and enforce them with the owners?”
Visitors were a concern too. How will visitors to each owner’s property be addressed or limited, with only two parking lots per site? someone asked.
Much was left to be addressed at future meetings.
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