VIRGINIA BEACH — A nonprofit that is building an adventure camp for people with disabilities may need to ask permission after the fact for clearing trees on land it is leasing from the city.
The city attorney’s office is reviewing its 40-year lease with the Virginia Gentlemen Foundation for land near General Booth Boulevard and Birdneck Road to determine if violations occurred, according to a memo sent to City Council by the city manager. That land — owned by the city and leased to the foundation for $1 per year — is being turned into “JT’s Camp Grom,” an attraction that will feature an accessible aquatic center, athletic field, gymnasium and more to disabled veterans, among others.
Zoning Administrator Karen Lasley issued a notice of violation of city zoning code on April 7 to the foundation. She said she believes the nonprofit acted in good faith.
“The only thing I know they’re guilty of now is taking down trees without telling me,” she said.
Lasley said she learned about the logging after neighboring residents complained by phone and email.
Neither the foundation nor its attorney returned messages Monday seeking comment for this article. They have until May 7 to appeal the violation notice.
To begin resolving the matter, Lasley wrote in her violation letter, the group can retroactively ask for the right to harvest timber in that spot or submit an appeal.
The nonprofit is leasing about 70 acres from the city and has plans to open the $15 million camp this fall. A 2013 conditional use permit allows construction of the camp — including tree clearing — on about 5 acres of that land, Lasley said. The rest is to be used for accessible trails and ropes courses, with a small portion set aside for later building expansion, according to city planning documents.
Any work in that set-aside portion — including the removal of trees — requires a permit modification, according to the documents. Trees in both areas have been cut down, and the city’s Planning Department has issued no modification to the original permit, Lasley said.
“They stayed where they were supposed to but they didn’t have an approved site plan” for the second area, she said.
A city manager’s memo to the City Council said the Virginia Gentlemen Foundation obtained approval from the Virginia Division of Forestry to cut down the trees, as well as permission from the city’s Planning Department to haul them away. It said the site’s zoning required Lasley to be notified of the work, and that did not happen.
The additional logging did not not harm surrounding wetlands or buffer space between the grounds and neighboring residents’ land, according to the city manager’s memo and Lasley.
Camp Grom is not the Virginia Gentleman Foundation’s first recreational project in Virginia Beach aimed at serving those with disabilities. About six years ago the group raised money to build “Grommet Island,” a wheelchair-accessible park on the beach at 2nd Street.
One of the foundation’s board members is developer Bruce Thompson, whose son — the J.T. in JT’s Camp Grom — suffers from ALS.
Have a story idea or news tip? Contact City Hall reporter Judah Taylor at [email protected] or 757-490-2750.
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[pdf-embedder url=”https://wydaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/07.LoggingActivityatCampGrom.pdf”]
