Special-use permit granted for summer camp; Lodgings for staff families at issue

Posted 8/21/12

TOWN OF BETHEL, NY — If a summer camp provides 100 beds for campers and 32 beds for staff members and their families, can it really be considered a summer camp, or is it some sort of hybrid …

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Special-use permit granted for summer camp; Lodgings for staff families at issue

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TOWN OF BETHEL, NY — If a summer camp provides 100 beds for campers and 32 beds for staff members and their families, can it really be considered a summer camp, or is it some sort of hybrid combining a summer camp and a bungalow colony?

That is one of the questions that has been involved in deliberations over a proposed summer camp and a former bungalow colony that has been empty for 20 years or so on Segar and Rosenberg Road in the Town of Bethel.

At a Bethel planning board meeting on November 2, the board considered granting a special-use permit to allow a summer camp proposed by the United Talmudical Academy (UTA) to move forward.

All bungalow colonies have been grandfathered by the town. They are not allowed to be expanded, and are all now considered nonconforming uses. Attorney Jay Zeiger, representing the camp, said he had analyzed the town’s definition of bungalow colony and “it’s clear what we’re operating is a camp for religious education with recreational” elements.

Board member David Slater said to board chair Dan Gettel, “He claims it’s a summer camp; our zoning says they can’t have family members stay in the [facility], and it’s a zoning issue. It says ‘a summer camp shall not include temporary or permanent shelters—structures designed for use or occupancy by family members of the children who attend the camp or employees who work there.’”

Zeiger said that law was not in effect when the project began, which has been in front of the planning board since at least 2014, and the law would not have an impact on the project because it had “significant vesting.” He also said he takes “significant issue” with the law, because “there’s no land-use benefit to that law.” He said the law, for example, would allow a rabbi and a counselor to be in the same building, but not a husband and wife. He said he considers that law to be “unconstitutional,” but that that doesn’t need to be argued in this case, because the project already had significant vesting when the law was adopted.

Slater responded that Zeiger was asking him to accept Zeiger’s interpretation of the town law, when the role of interpreting town law for the planning board properly belonged to the zoning board of appeals.

Addressing another aspect of staff and their families, Gettel read into the record part of a letter from Zeiger, which said in part, “Staff will dine at least part of their time in their bungalows [as opposed to the dining hall] as confirmed by the state Department of Health.”

Engineer Randy Wasson said the staff bungalows would be outfitted with refrigerators, sinks and microwaves but not ovens.

Addressing another matter, Gettel said there was a “trust issue” with the project, which was holding up the process. He said, “Randy submits a letter tonight saying there was no occupancy [in the summer of 2015], but on July 17 of this year, you signed a petition to the Supreme Court saying that it was operated as a summer camp. Now, it can’t be both.”

Zeiger explained that the petition was related to whether or not the camp should be allowed to claim a tax exemption for the property before a camp was actually up and running.

Gettel asked if it would make more sense to pay the tax this year, and apply for the exemption once the camp was complete, with construction, sewer upgrades and so on.

Zeiger said his position is that New York State tax law allows for that. At another point he said the matter would be determined in court.

Before the vote on granting the special- use permit, board members were told if they voted against it, they must state the reason. Slater voted no, citing the law regarding family members as did Susan Brown Otto, for the same reason. Five board members voted to grant the permit.

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