The Fayette County Planning Commission has recommended a rezoning for a 494-acre site in central Fayette County that would allow for a summer camp to help children with neurobehavioral and learning difficulties and also those with “diverse backgrounds and socio-economic levels.”
The tract in question is located at the end of Arnold Road, a short distance off Ebenezer Church Road in the center of unincorporated Fayette County. The main access road, however, would be off Ebenezer Church Road.
The rezoning will be considered by the Fayette County Board of Commissioners at its Dec. 15 meeting. Currently the land is zoned for agriculture residential, which has minimum lot sizes of 5 acres per home. The requested zoning is for “planned unit development – planned retreat or lodge.”
Camp Southern Ground is being championed by renowned recording artist Zac Brown of the famous Zac Brown Band, who lives in Fayette County with his wife Shelly and their four daughters.
Organizers hope the camp will be open by summer 2014, as the planning phase is underway as part of the zoning process. If the rezoning is approved, a fund-raising campaign will be undertaken.
Brown told The Citizen in a recent interview that he cherished the time he spent at summer camp when he was a kid, and he’s hoping to bring that same experience to a generation that is more comfortable with video games, for example.
“It just pulls people out of their element a little bit, and gets everybody eye to eye on just a very human level,” Brown said. “You have to help each other out to get through the week. You have to be engaged. I remember just how much I enjoyed that camp experience and how much perspective I gained for my own life.”
Later experience as a summer camp counselor gave Brown the wish to have that as his career one day, well before music became his avocation.
“In one week’s time you can kind of help change the trajectory of somebody’s understanding about things: In one week!” Brown said. “… It’s always been my dream to build a camp that’s not about me, but perpetuating into the future something that does some good.”
Shelly Brown, a Fayette County native, said she felt the camp will be very important to her family as well as the campers.
“Learning that it’s OK to be different, and learning that having disabilities doesn’t mean you can’t do everything that the mainstream kids get to do,” she said.
The camp expects to serve about 250 children, who would be dropped off Sunday afternoons and picked up Friday afternoons staggered over a three-hour period both days.
The camp is anticipated to be in full operation four months out of the year leaving “minimal traffic activity” the other eight months, according to a traffic study conducted for Camp Southern Ground.
The camp will have 98 parking spaces and temporary parking for 100 vehicles.
Despite the camp’s lofty goals, some nearby residents have voiced opposition, claiming that tr
affic from the camp will become a nuisance, detracting from the rural lifestyle residents have come to enjoy.
But a camp representative noted that if the land were developed as planned for residential lots of five acres each, the traffic would be double what is expected for the camp. Moreover, the homes would have an impact on the school system, whereas the camp would not, it was noted.
In addition to the increased traffic the camp would bring, residents are also concerned about the rezoning being contrary to the land use plan, which calls for the land to remain AR, and also for the loss of property tax revenue due to the non-profit status of the camp.
A neighbor also told the planning commission that noise was a concern for himself and his wife, as was a proposed temporary parking lot near their residence.
Other concerns included the viability of a community septic system to serve a large group of people.
There were also concerns about the potential of affecting the area aquifer, since some residents in the area are served by well water.
