Owasippe Zoning Battle Is Far From Over!
Mood:  bright
Topic: 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.

Keeping camps green - and in the green
Mood:  bright
Topic: Sale of Scout Camps
July 22, 2006
Chicago Tribune - Letters To The Editor

This is regarding "Greetings from Camp Not-gonna-open-again; As summer camps in the Chicago region dwindle, the ones remaining debate whether to stay open or sell out to real estate developers" (Page 1, July 9). The article accurately described the pressures that have increasingly caused camps to vanish under developers’ bulldozers.

A lasting solution that could serve as a model for communities around the nation is being explored right here in the Chicago region.

The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation is working with a number of Chicago-area partners to demonstrate practical choices beyond keep the camp and keep losing money running it, or retire our debts with a big check from a developer.

The ongoing loss of camp lands to development both reflects and reinforces unwelcome trends: "mouse-potato" childhoods, which create the conditions for obesity and other health issues; open space being
lost; and respected non-profit organizations such as the Girl Scouts of America finding it harder to serve urban and suburban communities.

It also represents lost opportunities to preserve natural areas: Summer camps typically involve intensive use of only a small fraction of the total camp acreage, and the buffer or light-use areas often include examples of rare natural communities, such as wetlands, oak savanna or prairie.

Several key reasons for this unfortunate trend were described in the article, including sprawling development pressure driving up land prices; competition from today’s subject-specific camps (music, sports, etc.); and changes in parents’ willingness to send their children to overnight summer camp. Working with conservation groups such as the Conservation Foundation and CorLands, and discussing the issue with non-profit camp owners, we’ve identified two additional challenges:

1. Lack of understanding of the options. Camp owners have not been aware of the full range of choices available to them as landowners.

2. A need to update camp activities with strong nature programs that can help today’s parents see new educational value in the outdoor camp experience.

On the first point we are now working to get the word out to camp owners that land ownership is not an all-or-nothing matter. For example, in Illinois and most other Midwestern states, landowners can
voluntarily "dedicate" land as nature preserves monitored by the state. A different option, one not involving any governmental entity, is to grant a conservation easement, which can be tailored to uses of the specific land in question.

The volunteer directors of non-profit camp owners take their fiduciary duties deeply to heart, and quite properly aren’t interested in allowing their organizations to bleed to death operating camps that run chronic deficits. Anxiety about that outcome can overwhelm concern about broader responsibilities, such as developing in young folk an appreciation for natural systems in a world waking up to inconvenient truths, saving the few remaining large parcels of open space for the public good and preserving safe havens for native plants and animals.

Fortunately better choices exist.

Judith Stockdale
Executive director
Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
Chicago

High Hopes for Owasippe!
Mood:  bright
Topic: Sale of Scout Camps
July 17, 2006
The White Lake Beacon
by Debra Carte

The party’s not over for the Owasippe Scout Reservation, not by a long shot, say Scouters and “Save Owasippe” supporters fighting to make sure the camp sees many more years beyond the 95 they celebrated last Wednesday.

“Save that banner and be prepared to put ‘100th’ there,” said Jim Schlichting, assistant development director for the Owasippe Outdoor Education Center (OOEC), as he pointed toward the large banner placed at the camp Wednesday to commemorate its 95 years of continued operation.

Schlichting and the OOEC, the non-profit organization working to preserve the camp as a year-round learning and conference center, have good reason to hope a sale of Owasippe can be stopped despite the Chicago Area Council of the Boy Scouts’ best efforts to sell it to a Holland area banker for $19.4 million.

The National Council of the Boy Scouts recently intervened in the contested business affairs of the Chicago Council and went as far as to dissolve its executive committee and appoint an interim one until elections can be held in January.

On Friday, the board of directors of the Chicago Area Council unanimously elected the executive committee proposed by the National Council and named John C. “Jack” Jadel as council president. Jadel replaces Lewis Greenblatt, who was asked by council to step down from the board. Jadel is the former president of the Northeast Illinois Council of the Boy Scouts, president of the National Eagle Scout Association and past president of Akzo America.

The good news of the shakeup is that National has charged the new committee with reviewing their predecessors’ business dealings and controversial decisions, including the pending sale of Owasippe.

That could mean three things, according to Joe Sener, chairman of the OOEC and one of 11 Scouters who prevailed in a lawsuit against the Chicago Council for violations of council bylaws and the Illinois Not-for-Profit Corporation Act.

“They could decide to go ahead with the sale, or entertain other proposals, like the OOEC’s, or not sell at all,” he said last Wednesday while attending Owasippe’s 95th birthday.

“National could see that the pending sale of Owasippe was an extremely hot issue for the [CAC] volunteers, and if that was going to be a
polarizing event, they wanted to see if the right decisions have been made.”

Sener didn’t hold back when commenting on how he perceives the past decision-making of the Chicago Council’s board.

“Deciding to sell all the capital assets of the council in order to balance the books is stupid,” he said. Sener is in his 42nd year at Camp Owasippe and served as chairman of the Chicago Council’s Owasippe Committee, but he and five others were considered by National to be “lightning rods” for the opposing parties in the Chicago Council dispute and were asked to step down from the board of directors and all committees.

Sener isn’t giving up in getting an open dialogue going on the future of Owasippe and has invited those now in charge in Chicago to learn more about the camp that’s served hundreds of thousands of youths since 1911.

“My plan is to continue to focus on Owasippe. Camping has been my life and my major contribution to the council,” he said. “I’ll let the executive committee do what they’ve been chartered to do and,
hopefully, bring some sanity to what’s been going on.”

The only member of the new executive committee to attend Owasippe’s 95th anniversary celebration on Wednesday was another of the Scouter-11, Jim Adamitis, who had joined Sener and nine others in a lawsuit against the Chicago Council. Adamitis would not comment on the review of the pending sale of Owasippe, but did say he believed there would
be a resolution.

“I am deeply of a mind that things work out for the very best for the council and for the community,” he said.

The Chicago Council’s Scout Executive, Jim Stone, said Wednesday at Owasippe that the council is accepting reservations from Scouters for the 2007 camping season, but “I can’t speak to beyond that,” he added.

How About A Capital Campaign and NOT A Capital Asset Sale!
Mood:  loud
Topic: Sale of Scout Camps
What is going to happen when the new Executive Committee goes up to Owasippe? I think that the entire board who votes should go and not only the new executive committee.

What a difference on how the property would look TODAY if they took the insurance money and rebuilt the dining hall at Carlen and the Lodge at Reneker. I hope that someone points out to the board that
the constant raping of the land and resources over the years along with no overt publicity campaign for camping and utilizing the property caused much of her appearance today.

Some of that BONUS Hoover money could make quite a difference towards Capital improvements for this property and would help in a partnership with the OOEC in allowing for the continued operation of the
facility.

It was refreshing to see that the NEW Executive Committee is comprised mostly of Bankers and not Lawyers, Insurance people or Real Estate
Developers. Bankers always seem to look at their bottom line more.

Maybe they will realize that Owasippe is Chicago Area Councils truly only appreciating capital asset that will never depreciate.

God Bless all of you, say a prayer and keep the faith!

YIS,
John Hosty

[ Note: Northwest Suburban Council is in the middle of a $4-million capital campaign drive to upgrade their Camp Napowan's dining hall and other facilities...which is a 5-HOUR DRIVE to Northern Wisconsin from their council office. ]

National Scouts order review of Owasippe
Mood:  happy
Topic: Sale of Scout Camps
July 3, 2006
by Debra Carte
The White Lake Beacon

"Save Owasippe" supporters are wondering if a sale of the 4,800-acre Owasippe Scout Reservation in Blue Lake Township can be stopped now that the Boy Scouts of America National Council has stepped in to restructure the contentious executive committee of the Chicago Area Council of the Boy Scouts and has asked a new committee to review the
pending sale of Owasippe.

The Boy Scouts of America National Council has decided it’s had enough of the infighting between its Scouters in the Chicago Area Council and has stepped in to install a new executive committee
there - one that has now been charged with reviewing the pending sale of Owasippe.

What a review of the sale means is still unclear. But the possibility that the new executive committee could kill the deal made by its
predecessors to sell Camp Owasippe’s 4,748 acres for $19.4 million to a Holland banker is a huge ray of hope for Scouters and “Save Owasippe” supporters.

While anything is possible, the Chicago Council’s attorney, Devin Schindler, said Friday, “it’s unlikely” the new committee will take steps to prevent the sale of Owasippe. “National (Boy Scout Council) understands we have a binding contract, but that doesn’t mean 100% of Owasippe needs to be developed. There are a lot of options,” he said.

While Schindler wouldn’t divulge details of the contract the Chicago Council has with Benjamin A. Smith III, founder of the Macatawa Bank Corp, the contract is contingent on the rezoning of Owasippe for residential development.

The Chicago’s Council is 0-3 in its effort to gain approval for its rezoning application that would divide Owasippe’s pristine oak-savanna forest into quarter-acre to 10-acre lots. The camp is the oldest operating Boy Scout camp in the country and is home to a variety of endangered and threatened species of wildlife, including the Bald Eagle, Karner Blue Butterfly, Eastern Box Turtle and
Massasauga Rattlesnake.

Blue Lake Township planners, the Muskegon County Metropolitan Planning Commission and the Blue Lake Township board have all denied the Chicago council’s rezoning application. They contend that a large development would endanger wildlife and over-burden its already fragile infrastructure.

The Chicago Council sued Blue Lake Township in May before the township board’s vote on the rezoning took place. The council is alleging that the township’s zoning of the property to a designation
restricting its use to camp activities only constitutes an illegal taking of the property.

Last Monday, 14th Circuit Court Judge William Marietti set the dates for mediation and trial. Three mediators, appointed by the court, will review the case on Feb. 9 of next year and will forward a recommendation to Marietti. A bench trial is set for March 20-23 and 27-30 of 2007, beginning at 9 a.m. Judge Marietti’s courtroom is on the 4th floor of the Michael E. Kobza Hall of Justice in Muskegon.

In another courtroom in Chicago on Friday, lawsuits that pitted Scouters against the Chicago Council for violations of council bylaws and the Illinois Not-for-Profit Corporation Act were to be dropped in exchange for a settlement arrangement initiated by the Boy Scouts National Council. National gave the Chicago Council two options: either accept the plan of reorganization or lose its charter and all
of its assets, including Camp Owasippe.

Chicago decided the second option wasn’t an option. The council’s executive committee was dissolved and a new interim one was set in place to handle the council’s affairs until its next annual meeting in January. In the fallout, six Scouters have gone into “sabbatical,” according to Jim Stone, chief executive officer of the Chicago Area Council.

Those six include the executive committee’s controversial president, Lewis Greenblatt, whom a Chicago judge ruled had violated the council’s bylaws and Illinois law as alleged by the Scouter 11.

Robert Bork, spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America National Council, said the six Scouters were “lightning rods” who were asked to step down. In addition to Greenblatt, two others from the former executive council were asked to resign - Dennis Chookazian and Brian Kasal. Three from the Scouter 11 didn’t escape National’s ax, either. They include Joe Sener, Larry Strickling and Rita Egan. According to Bork, any of the six could be renominated to the committee in the future.

Bork said National’s purpose in intervening in the Chicago Council was to “turn the mess around,” and not to interfere in its business decisions and the review of the pending sale of Owasippe.

Don Studaven, Blue Lake Township supervisor, isn’t anticipating the Chicago Council will drop any lawsuits his township is involved in anytime soon. “They haven’t put the sale on hold and they haven’t stopped their attorneys,” he said. “As far as Blue Lake Township is concerned, we’re being sued and we’re proceeding in the same manner.”

But Jim Schlichting, assistant development director for the Owasippe Outdoor Education Center (OOEC), believes a review of the sale of Owasippe by the new committee is a ray of hope his organization can
bask in [www.ooec.org].

“A whole lot of things have come together,” he said. “A zoning decision by the township board is something that has come up at the same time as the executive board is being changed. We wonder, at this time, if the executive board has addressed whether to go ahead or stop (the sale). There’s a real possibility it could go either way.”

OOEC wants to put its own offer on the new committee’s table. Its plan is to keep Owasippe as a camp that would include a year-around learning and conference center. There would be no need for a zoning change for that. “One of our goals is to be invited to sit down at a table and present our plan. It’s a way to put a lot of the past past
us,” Schlichting said.

Copyright ? 2006 White Lake Beacon

OK, OK...Let's Get The Owasippe Facts Straight and Unspun!
Mood:  chatty
Topic: Sale of Scout Camps
Note #1: Reports continue to falsely identify a dramatic drop in Owasippe's attendance when, in actuality, Owasippe's attendance has been on the rise each of the last 4-5 summers and is now approaching 4,000 campers per summer. If a statistical analysis was performed covering the last fifty years, one would probably find that Owasippe's current attendance would be somewhat on par with the average for that period.

One will also find that the camp's attendance in the late 60s has been stretched abit and was probably never any more than about 10,000 when the camp ran eight 1-week periods. During that time, it was also very common for families to be able to afford a two week camp term instead of the more common and more costly one week term of today. Taking that into account, there were probably more
like 4-5,000 unique campers attending Owasippe over a longer time frame (not 10-13,000), many of whom stayed for two weeks and were therefore counted twice in the totals.

Note #2: Chicago Area Council's complaint about the camp being a financial drain just doesn't wash (pardon the pun) since the camp is a program facility, not a profit center. After all, isn't CAC a "not-for-profit charitable institution"? The camp's operational expenses are for the good of the youth that it serves and the small deficit
that it experiences (probably more like $40,000 year) is attributed more to its year-long operation rather than its summertime activities. Given the Scout council's mission to serve youth, it
should be a no-brainer for the council board to subsidize this outdoor program opportunity as it has done for decades with monies that it raises from "Friends Of Scouting" and corporate lunch-o-
rees...instead of putting it toward unnecessarily high professional salaries and perks (ie. reportedly worth more than $200k per year for
its Scout Exec/CEO, Jim Stone).

Note #3: Owasippe is now Chicago Area Council's ONLY camp facility left for its youth. They recently completed a sale of its Hoover Outdoor Education Center for $18-million and reportedly have $16-million on its books according to its 2004-filed 990-Report with the Illinois Attorney General's Charitable Trust Division. So, the
lamenting of being "financially strapped" is now quite pathetic.

Note #4: For added info on Owasippe and on its struggle for preservation, go to the following websites...
http://scarlet_sassafras.tripod.com
http://www.ooec.org
http://www.owasippe.com
http://www.fortdearborn.org

by Ron Kulak, Webmaster for The Scarlet Sassafras

2007 OSR Reservations NOW Being Taken
Mood:  happy
Topic: Sale of Scout Camps
GREAT NEWS...Plan your calendars for 2007!
2007 Reservations are NOW Being Accepted from interested Units for their selected sites and dates for Camps Blackhawk, Wolverine, Carlen Venture Base, Manistee Quest and from Scouter Families for
cabins at Camp Reneker. Forms are available at Owasippe or from the Chicago Area Council Service Center. Fees will be set in the Fall.

Scouts may be pitching tents for last time at Owasippe
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Sale of Scout Camps
Thursday, June 22, 2006
By Lynn Moore
MUSKEGON CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER

Keith Kinslow can't bring himself to believe that this, the 95th camping season at Owasippe Scout Reservation, could be the last.

The scoutmaster from Chicago will come to rural Blue Lake Township Saturday for his 10th season of camping. He said he will not dwell on the fact that a court fight now under way could result in homes
sprouting where only wilderness has reigned, and that his beloved camping spot could be gone forever.

"We don't think that way," Kinslow said. "We can't think that way."

As campers like Kinslow prepare to return to the woods, attorneys are getting ready for a court fight. On one side are attorneys for the Chicago Area Council of Boy Scouts, which owns the camp but wants to sell it. They have sued Blue Lake Township to try to force a rezoning of the 4,780-acre property that would allow the sale of the property
for $19.4 million and the construction of as many as 1,278 new homes.

On the other side are lawyers for Blue Lake Township officials who recently rejected the rezoning request, saying it would strain township roads and services, destroy the nature of the township and run counter to the wishes of township residents.

Round one of the fight will be Monday, when the two sides meet for a pretrial conference in the courtroom of Muskegon County Circuit Judge
William C. Marietti.

The Boy Scouts' attorney, Devin Schindler, said the circuit court lawsuit and a "mirror case" in federal court were filed because township officials have refused to talk to the Scouts. Trying to
amend the rezoning request in an attempt to gain approval would be futile, he said.

"It's impossible to amend a rezoning request when you have no idea what specifically the township is looking for," Schindler said. "I have no idea why they won't talk to me."

Boy Scout officials say the current zoning represents illegal "taking" of the property because it denies nearly every "legitimate land use" and deprives the land of its value. The lawsuits claim Owasippe's zoning of forest recreation-institution is different from that of surrounding property and represents discrimination. They also claim the township's actions have denied the Boy Scouts their due process.

The Boy Scout Council claims lagging interest in camping has turned the camp into a financial liability. The council has reported camp operations have cost it $200,000 to $600,000 for each of the last several years, and that an estimated $1 million to $3 million investment is needed to repair camp facilities.

Kinslow said volunteers are keeping the camp facilities functioning despite neglect from the council. He was among volunteers who spent Memorial Day weekend -- and their own money -- at a camp work bee. He called their efforts "a labor of love."

"Where else are these kids going to go when they start selling off all these camps?" Kinslow said. A spokeswoman said no final decision has been made about future camping.

The council has sold other camps over the years, leaving Owasippe as the only wilderness experience for Chicago-area Boy Scouts, said Ron Kron, a scoutmaster for a troop on Chicago's northwest side.

Kron, who has been camping at Owasippe for more than 20 years, said he has a 19-year-old son who is working at the camp this year -- something he said he always wanted to do. "I said 'Do it. You never
know what will happen with the camp,' " Kron said.

"I've lived in Chicago my whole life, and you just can't see that kind of stuff," he said. "I never thought there was such beauty three hours away (from the city.)" Kron will camp for two weeks in July, taking in festivities that are planned to celebrate Owasippe's 95th year, as well as quieter moments fishing on pristine Lake Wolverine.

He is hoping they won't be the last. "No one really looks at it as what's best for the kids," Kron said. "I had experiences as a kid that I still have memories of. It just changes people."

?2006 Muskegon Chronicle

Keep Up The Good Fight
Mood:  cheeky
Topic: Sale of Scout Camps
I think you are doing a terrific job...keeping everyone informed as this saga unwinds. You guys are in the right on all counts and there is no need to compromise on anything. In my opinion, you have already given up enough land, and it is time to draw the line. Our small council has two camps and, undoubtedly, at some point in time will sell one of them. To this eventuality, we have started a camp support group that is independant of the council with the hopes of preserving our camp.

Your efforts are an inspiration! Keep up the good fight; many here are watching and cheering you on.

~ Bill Dorrell
T-28 ASM, Mt. Pleasant Ia

Planning commission rejects rezoning plan for Boy Scout land
Mood:  happy
Topic: Sale of Scout Camps
3/16/2006 - The Associated Press

BLUE LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A planning board has rejected a rezoning proposal that would have allowed a large residential development to be built on a pristine 4,780-acre camping area owned by the Chicago Area Council of Boy Scouts.

The council wants the Owasippe Scout Reservation in Muskegon County's rural Blue Lake Township, just north of Muskegon, to be rezoned so the property can be sold for $19.4 million to a Holland developer.

Many local residents oppose the plan because it has the potential to more than double the population of the township, which has no municipal sewer or water service and has an on-call fire department.

The proposed 1,278-home development would most likely require extensive road improvements.

The plan now goes to a regional planning body and then before the township's Board of Trustees, where passage is unlikely because of the public opposition.

The final resolution of the development plan probably will be decided in court, The Muskegon Chronicle reported Thursday.

The council operated camps on the property for 94 years, but faced with mounting financial losses and dwindling numbers of campers, it announced three years ago that it would try to sell the land.

Most of it is zoned "forestry-recreation (institution)," a designation given in December 2002 that limits its use to camps.

Benjamin A. Smith III, founder and chairman of Holland-based Macatawa Bank Corp., heads a private investment group that wants to buy the property. Smith has said he would like to preserve as much of the land's more than 7 square miles as possible, but his investors will need to make money from it.

[ Note: courtesy of www.fortdearborn.org ]