Bay Club Campground Proposal Heads To Zoning Board Next Week

Bay Club Campground Proposal Heads To Zoning Board Next Week
2016 12 12 The Bay Club Rendering Full Site small file

(Editor’s Note: After this story was published online, the request was removed from next week’s BZA meeting and will be rescheduled for a later date, which we will report when it’s announced.)

BERLIN – A request that would allow the Bay Club to be turned into a 434-site rental campground will be considered by the Worcester County Board of Zoning Appeals next week.

On Thursday, Feb. 9, the board will host its monthly meeting at 6:30 p.m. The final item on the agenda, set for 6:50 p.m., is attorney Hugh Cropper’s request for a special exception to establish a campground at the Bay Club property on Libertytown Road.

Cropper, representing the Carl M. Freeman Companies, shared plans for the redevelopment of the golf course with officials in Berlin in December. Cropper said his client had hired a nationally known campground designer to work on the project, which would involve interspersing camp sites through the Bay Club’s 437 acres. Cropper said it was likely that one of the Bay Club’s two 18-hole golf courses would be left intact and that camp sites would be set up throughout the property, along with amenities for campers.

During his presentation to town officials, Cropper said the campground’s water and sewer needs could be served by an on-site package plant but added that annexation into Berlin was something that could be discussed in the future.

Area residents have expressed concerns regarding the traffic a campground on the Bay Club property would create. Several have pointed out that the majority of the campers using the property would be interested in visiting local beaches, which are most easily accessed by passing through already congested Berlin. Others have said that a campground doesn’t mesh with the edge-of-town greenbelt described in the Berlin’s most recent comprehensive plan.

According to county staff, if the Bay Club is granted a special exception on Thursday, the site plan for the proposed campground would then have to go to the county’s technical review committee and planning commission before construction could begin.

About The Author: Charlene Sharpe

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Charlene Sharpe has been with The Dispatch since 2014. A graduate of Stephen Decatur High School and the University of Richmond, she spent seven years with the Delmarva Media Group before joining the team at The Dispatch.