The Tremont Board of Appeals (Maine) could revoke Kenya and James Hopkins’ second campground project development, Acadia Wilderness Lodge (AWL).
According to a report, over the past few months, an administrative appeal was made by Concerned Tremont Residents (CTR) to overturn the decision of the Planning Board to approve AWL.
A Board of Appeals meeting was held, where AWL and CTR attorneys presented evidence to support their argument about moving forward with the campground.
The first application for what is now known as Acadia Yurt Village was approved by the Planning Board in 2019 to construct an 11-yurt campground located on Kelleytown Road.
The planning board approved the second application to build a larger campground with 55 tent sites and yurts. While the owners claim they are two distinct entities because of their different names, both will share common facilities and fall under the same management and ownership.
The Hopkins are progressing in both campgrounds and are currently taking campsite reservations for this summer.
In the Board of Appeals meeting, attorney Amy Tchao of Drummond Woodsom, on behalf of CTR, said that the errors made by the Planning Board fall into two groups.
The first is that the Planning Board failed to make certain findings necessary in the application to determine whether their standards were met when the board approved AWL.
The second is that the Planning Board improperly deferred satisfaction of required standards to a future date through the imposition of approval, which the CTR believed was inappropriate, and, in some cases, did not delegate their authority to different bodies, such as the code enforcement officer or to the applicant itself.
Tchao claimed that the findings were based on AWL’s new and old applications, which she said did not meet the land use regulations of Tremont and site plan review standards.
If the Board of Appeals finds that the Planning Board made an error in approving the application, it will be sent back to the Planning Board for additional review.
This story originally appeared on Mount Desert Islander.
Isn’t the Tremont Board of Appeals in Maine reviewing the campground project? It’s wonderful to see the Acadia Wilderness Lodge being recognized for its environmental efforts and support from outdoor enthusiasts. Do you think the project will move forward?