Attachments

20230728-171312-FIMFO Determination Letter.pdf

ELDRED, NY — Though facing setbacks, the developers behind the Camp FIMFO project are looking to move it forward. 

Camp FIMFO, a project to renovate and upgrade the Kittatinny Canoes campsite in Barryville, has to undergo oversight from a wide array of government bodies. The National Park Service (NPS), one of those bodies, recently issued a letter against the project as it stands. The NPS declared it out of conformance with the River Management Plan (RMP), a set of guidelines governing development along the Upper Delaware River. 

The legal counsel for the developer behind the project has called upon the Highland Planning Board to ignore the NPS and approve Camp FIMFO. 

NPS

The NPS issued its determination letter on July 17. 

The Camp FIMFO project failed to meet three out of 22 objectives under the RMP, according to the NPS. Additionally, the project increases the intensity of use at the site in a way that violates the intent of the RMP. 

The NPS found that several parts of the campground plans violated the RMP. 

Camp FIMFO proposes to upgrade many of its tent campsites to RV campsites, including 146 cabin-styled park-model RVs. The NPS found that, because the RVs will remain on the land, they were not in compliance with a guideline prohibiting permanent structures at campsites. Because the RVs will have individual water and sewer hookups, they fall afoul of a rule prohibiting such hookups. 

The RMP also encourages the maintenance of existing patterns of land use and ownership, encouraging limits on housing density and reinforcing existing patterns of use. The NPS found that the RVs violate both measures. 

“NPS finds the proposal does not maintain or conserve the essential character of the corridor, as it violates the intent of temporary or transient use by permanently installing RVs and utility infrastructure on the landscape,” reads the letter, in part. “NPS acknowledges the park-model RVs might offer a new subcategory of camping experience; however, that use is incompatible with maintaining the “natural, scenic and rural character” of the corridor given the size, scale and intensity of the proposed renovation.”

FIMFO

Daniel Ruben, the attorney representing the Camp FIMFO project, responded to the letter at a  July 26 meeting of the Highland Planning Board. 

Ruben disagreed with the conclusions of the letter, calling it “nonsense,” and cast the board’s decision on Camp FIMFO as a weighty one. Would the Town of Highland keep its local control? he asked. Or would the area become a national park, governed by the NPS?

“Do you want to have this fight with the NPS now, with us on your side, and us taking this battle as far as it needs to go? Because we will. We will fight this through every step of litigation until we get the right outcome,” said Ruben. 

The Highland Planning Board could decide on the project without the NPS’ approval, Ruben said. He urged the board to do so. 

Highland planning board chair Norm Sutherland presides over a Wednesday, July 26 planning board meeting.

Highland

“It is correct… that we don’t have to follow their response,” said Norm Sutherland, chair of the Highland Planning Board. “However, we’re not going to vote tonight.”

Sutherland said he still needed to digest some of the information from the NPS; he had hoped there would be more technical reference and, instead, it felt vague, he said. 

The board did not commit to a direction for the application. When pushed by Ruben, Sutherland confirmed that the board would continue to consider the project and that it wasn’t one-sided. 

Click here for information about the other projects discussed at the Wednesday, July 26 meeting of the Highland planning board.