ROME — A proposed summer camp is creating a lot of noise on an otherwise quiet cove on the north end of Long Pond.
The town’s planning board is considering an application from David Porter, of Sudbury, Massachusetts, to build an overnight camp on property he owns off Watson Pond Road. Planning board members have a site visit planned at 6 p.m. on Monday.
Camp Caruso would host foster children and hold four 10-day sessions involving 48 boys each. Porter is proposing to build four cabins, a waterfront storage building, a dining hall, office, craft building, parking lot, playing fields and a natural amphitheater among other small buildings. Approximately 2,500 feet of the access road to the camp would also need to be improved and widened by about 8 feet.
The property, between the Jorgenson Estates and Beaver Brook Estates roads, is 68 acres, and the proposed camp would take up about 15 acres on the east side of the property, according to Porter’s application.
In an interview Thursday, Porter said he bought the land in 2012 with no intention to do anything with it, but later decided he and his wife, Jennifer, wanted to make a summer camp for foster children their legacy.
The plan is to bring together siblings who live in different foster homes to connect with outdoor activities at a beautiful, quiet part of Maine, Porter said. They hope to start construction in August and complete the project by December. Porter said he is spending $3 million of his own money to build the camp.
But the beauty and quiet of Beaver Cove at the north end of the lake is exactly what those opposed to the plan say they are trying to protect.
Since he submitted initial paperwork to the planning board last November, resistance to the proposed camp has been mounting from abutting landowners and other residents, including many seasonal residents.
A well-attended public hearing last month indicated the depth of dissatisfaction with Porter’s proposal.
Planning Board Chairman Dick Greenan said major concerns included noise, light and road traffic, as well as possible impact to the water quality in the lake from runoff.
Overall, there is concern that the area many see as a quiet refuge could be disrupted by a boisterous camp.
“A lot of people bought in the cove there because they wanted to be in a quiet place, and now there is a kids’ camp going in,” Greenan said. “You can appreciate why they are all up in arms.”
The planning board is continuing to consider the application, and there are outstanding issues to deal with, Greenan said. The board is waiting for an environmental impact study from Kennebec Soil and Water District to determine the impact of the runoff and will likely require tests for noise, Greenan said.
Although the area is zoned residential, Camp Caruso is a registered nonprofit organization and can build on the land, Greenan said. Further, even though the property has only 253 feet of shore frontage on Long Pond, it has about 2,500 feet of frontage on Beaver Brook, which runs into the pond, which fulfills the 300-foot shoreland requirement for institutional projects, according to Foster’s application.
Following Monday’s site visit, the planning board will discuss the application again on Monday, July 13, although it will likely not take a vote at that time, Greenan said.
Foster said the intense resistance to his project was unexpected.
He said that the image people have of campers clogging the lake in kayaks or causing too much noise was inaccurate, and that he took offense at the suggestion by some that the camp would cater to “inner city kids.”
“I recognize that people go up there for peace and tranquility and quiet,” Porter said, adding that he doesn’t believe the camp will change any of that. He and his wife are trying to “compromise at every turn” and are willing to put up safeguards to address concerns about light, noise and other issues.
“The neighbors have only made me and my wife more resolute to see it through to completion,” Porter said.
But if the camp is rejected by the planning board, he is already considering other uses for the property that nearby landowners would like even less, Porter said. He would not elaborate on what was considered, but it was “not a pretty sight.”
“I think the camp is the most appealing use of that land for the neighbors,” Porter said.
Peter McGuire — 861-9239
Twitter: PeteL_McGuire
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