Camp has plans
for houses, fields
Attorney indicates
public could have
access to facilities
By linda denicola
Staff Writer

The owners of Rolling Hills Day Camp will renew plans to expand the camp on Old Mill Road, off Route 79 on the east side of Freehold Town-ship.

In the past, residents who live in a neighborhood near the camp have objected to plans for expansion.

Last week, members of the Township Committee discussed a proposal made by Timberglade Inc./Rolling Hills Day Camp to create a four-lot residential subdivision on property adjacent to the camp. In addition, the owners of the property want to create a detention basin and construct softball and soccer fields, as well as a roller hockey rink.

According to Deputy Mayor David Salkin, representatives of Rolling Hills came in and made their case, but the committee took no action.

"Nothing is going to happen until the people who live in Sheffield Estates and the surrounding houses have a chance to comment," Salkin said. "The committee decided that nothing will be done until all of the residents living near the proposed development are notified and their concerns considered."

Committeewoman Dorothy Avallone added, "We have asked the camp’s attorney to send something to our township attorney so that we can review it. We have not really seen the proposal. We are also going to talk to people in neighboring residences."

In order to go forward with the plan, Timberglade Inc. has filed an application for a use variance and subdivision approval. To sweeten the pot, the firm has offered to dedicate or donate the 5.7-acre recreational area to be constructed on the camp grounds to the township as a public park.

"They came to us because they would like to build houses and ball fields," Salkin said. "I believe that in the past they have had difficulty with the Zoning Board of Adjustment because residents over there don’t want ball fields."

The issue of developing the land next to the Rolling Hills Day Camp goes back a couple of years.

According to a letter sent to the committee by the applicant’s attorney, William J. Mehr, of Freehold, the owners of Rolling Hills Day Camp own adjacent property which is in an R-60 zone (residential development permitted on 1.5-acre lots). Approximately 18 months ago the owners applied for site plan approval to use about two-thirds of that property, pursuant to a use variance, to expand the camp and leave the other third of the property along Robertsville Road as a subdivision with two conforming residential building lots.

The zoning board rejected the application for various reasons, one being the fear that Timberglade Inc. would not actually develop the two residential properties that would provide a buffer zone to the adjoining residential areas.

In order to assuage the concerns of the zoning board, Mehr informed the committee that the owners are now proposing to create a four-lot residential buffer and a large detention basin on two-thirds of the property with the athletic fields on the remainder of the land.

The attorney’s letter states that the camp is operated for 40 weekdays each summer. He said that means that for about 10 months each year the facilities would be available to the general public for park and recreational purposes. The site would also be available after 5 p.m. weekdays, on weekends, and on public holidays during the summer, according to the letter.

In addition, he said the owners of the camp would pay for the insurance and maintain the fields so there would be no cost incurred by the township.

The camp is in a residential-commercial zone and has had to modify its offerings on site to its campers, according to Mehr. Although the number of campers has remained relatively constant for the past four or five years, the average age of the campers has gotten older with the result that the kind of activities the camp has to provide has changed.

According to the attorney, when children get older they need a larger area for playing fields and the camp needs more room to accommodate both older and younger children’s activities.