The camp’s proposal will be to convert 31 of the existing campsites into RV sites and to create an additional 32 new campsites that will be modified with full utility services such as electric, water, and sewer, said Matt Huntington, project engineer from Studio A Landscape Architecture. The campground sits on about 67 wooded acres in the Town of Lake George. It is owned by LGCG, LLC, of Orlando Florida, according to county records.
“It’s a push for more RV sites, less tent sites. You get a little bit more long term, stable clientele with the RV sites,” Huntington explained to the Lake George Planning Board. “The idea with this expansion is to phase out what they have with the tent sites and get a more consistent client base that are coming with RVs.
” Additionally, the proposed expansion will include two gravel access roads, an extension of the existing water infrastructure, six wastewater absorption fields that will service the expansion areas as well as replace an antiquated wastewater treatment system, planning documents said. “The existing sites that are there are serviced by various seepage pits for wastewater and some antiquated systems,” Huntington said. “So as part of this project, in addition to the expansions, there’s certain areas, especially over near the stream corridor, that we’re going to upgrade wastewater into a new system that’s going to be part of the expansion.
” There will also be a new bathhouse to accommodate the expansion. The campground currently has three bathhouses already on the existing property. The Lake George Camping Village have “secluded, wooded campsites in a serene mountain setting, just 1.
7 miles from beautiful Lake George and Lake George Village,” their website states. The facilities offer enhanced Wifi, restrooms, showers and coin laundry, camp store, and dump station. Other amenities include heated pools, outdoor movies, nature trails, game room, playground, pickleball courts, basketball court, sand volleyball, badminton and shuffleboard.
The biggest hindrance to the expansion’s approval could be retrofitting the existing property to maintain proper stormwater practices under the current code. “In the code, it says, as part of the retrofit, you have to take a half inch of runoff from the existing impervious surface and infiltrate that into the ground,” Huntington said. Since the development is within 100 ft.
of a stream that passes through the campground, and will include the excavation and clearing of trees, it is under strict regulation. “The code is still relatively new for retrofit,” said Dan Barusch, Lake George director of planning and zoning. “Each time a retrofit comes into play, it was for a single family dwelling or a smaller site that had limited development on it, I think this is probably one of the bigger ones that we will likely ever see,” Barusch said.
Huntington explained that the plan is to “alleviate the stormwater separation with a clay trench,” but that the site has not had any stormwater issues, such as flooding, in the past. The Lake George Planning Board will wait for the town engineer to sign off on the project in the form of a letter, as well as the zoning board to make an approval in early September. However, the planning board generally viewed the development favorably during their meeting on Tuesday, Aug.
13. “My feedback overall, I don’t see any glaring issues, obviously there’s a lot of details to work through,” Planning Board Chairman Fred Pape said. The Lake George Planning Board tabled the project until the next meeting in September.
There will be a public hearing at the next meeting for residents to voice their concerns or support the proposed development..
