PETERSBURG – Upper Township Committee, at its June 13 meeting, discussed how to proceed with its proposed amended ordinance governing the regulation of campgrounds in the municipality.
Township Solicitor Daniel Reeves explained the rationale for new amendments to the originally amended ordinance.
“The foundational ordinance governing campgrounds has not been reviewed for 48 years,” he said, “so the amendments we are now including are updated fees, perimeter setbacks, and standards for add-on construction, including ‘roof overs,’ which we understand to be popular and well-used.”
A resident of Oak Ridge, in Marmora, said there is confusion among long-time inhabitants as to what these amendments will change and disappointment about why they are necessary.
“The original purpose of campgrounds, as explained in the guiding ordinance from decades ago, is to provide a recreational facility, not year-round amenities to create a ‘mini subdivision,’ which could attract families with school children,” Reeves explained. “The children then have a right to attend school, thus putting an undue tax burden on the municipality.
“We recognize that campground residents can’t do today what they were doing decades ago through variances or even illegally, but that doesn’t change the need to amend the ordinance to meet present-day circumstances,” he continued.
