Mood:
brightTopic: Sale of Scout Camps
August 7, 2006
by www.ooec.org
The Chicago Boy Scouts [CAC] did not exhaust the local appeals of the Blue Lake Township vote. They have avoided an appeal to the Township Zoning Board of Appeals. Instead, the Chicago Scouts have decided to go forth in Circuit Court [Muskegon County] and Federal Court with
separate complaints against the Township. As a matter of fact, the Chicago Boy Scouts filed their court complaints BEFORE THE TOWNSHIP VOTE WAS EVEN TAKEN.
West Michigan residents and local authorities have felt that the Chicago Boy Scouts have been planning for a court fight for a long time, since the very beginning of their attempt to create residential
zoning on the entire Owasippe property. In the very first formal communications with the Township, the Chicago Boy Scouts began their “sabre rattling” about bringing the matter to a judge if the Scouts were denied their request.
The OOEC observes that the current proposed sale by the Chicago Boy Scouts is a continuation of a long-established Boy Scout policy of selling real assets in order to fund their current program operations. In the recent past (about 16 years ago), the Chicago Boy Scouts sold more than 8,000 acres of Owasippe property for residential development. The Chicago Boy Scouts have sold ALL of
their other camp real estate holdings [Hoover, Crete, Valley View, Kiwanis, Dearborn, Harrison, et al ]!
THE OWASIPPE SOLUTION:
The Owasippe Outdoor Education Center is now even more steadfast in working towards a resolution of the Owasippe property issue. WE STRONGLY SUPPORT THE SALE OF THE OWASIPPE PROPERTY FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF A NOT-FOR PROFIT WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION AND RECREATION FACILITY. The OOEC has developed a business plan and assembled partners that make the creation of that facility possible. This facility would continue to offer a location for a Boy Scout summer camp program as well as make the facility available to many other youth organizations of West Michigan and beyond.
