Camp Sunrise — a 146-acre parcel of lakefront property that straddles Addison and Rutland counties, owned by the Boy Scouts of America — is for sale.
Residents of Orwell and Benson, who have long been able to access Sunset Lake through the shoreline of Camp Sunrise, worry that a private sale could end a beloved relationship with the land.
For more than a year, officials with Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources have been working with the Green Mountain Council, the Vermont chapter of the Boy Scouts of America, to explore whether the state could purchase the property.
After Thanksgiving, members of the agency held a meeting with local lawmakers, informing them that they won’t move forward. Costs to operate a day-use area and replace a failing dam, they said, would be too high.
Representatives of the Green Mountain Council say they’re currently having conversations with other parties that have expressed interest in the land over the last several years, but if none of those options pan out soon, they’ll need to turn to the open market. If that happens, the property could be developed.
“The period in which we’ve been able to maintain the property is coming to a close, and so we’re going to have to move forward,” said Mark Saxon, scout executive and CEO of the Green Mountain Council. “And if there’s not the ability to manage the sale through the private market that’s sort of developed organically, then ultimately, like any other entity looking to divest a property, we need to pursue more of a public listing.”
Locals, who have expressed concern through petitions, postcards and messages to state officials, and Facebook posts shared by more than a hundred people, are worried about losing access to one of the pristine lake’s only swimming spots.
The land borders two neighboring lakes — Sunrise Lake straddles the boundary between the towns of Orwell and Benson, and Sunset Lake is situated in Benson. One stretch of Sunset Lake, now owned by the Scouts, includes a swimming spot that’s been used by locals for generations. The area doesn’t have ample access to other clean, fresh water, and Sunset Lake is pristine.
“It is a very, very, very popular local spot,” said Joseph Andriano, who was recently elected to represent the Addison-Rutland district in the Vermont House. “If you’re to go down there, there’s cars lined up, there’s kids in the water, people swimming, boating, angling.”
Emily Casey, an Orwell resident who wrote a widely shared Facebook post about the potential sale, said the swimming spot has long been important to locals.
“I have friends who learned to swim there, you know, grew up swimming there,” she said. “I took my kids there swimming — it’s close by, and there’s not really another place for us to recreate and take a swim.”
The shore provides much-needed access to cool water in an area that isn’t particularly wealthy, she said.
“It’s just an important part of our community,” Casey said. “It has a really long history there.”
Saxon said the organization is looking to sell the property for a number of reasons. The primary motivation, he said, is that the pandemic placed the chapter in a financial bind — none of the summer camp programs could continue.
The cost of maintaining and owning a large, remote wilderness property created a challenge for the organization, Saxon said, and caused the council to divert resources that otherwise could have been applied to community programs for scouting.
Across the country, local chapters of Boy Scouts of America are selling land to pay for $2.46 billion in settlements resulting from a lawsuit that involved the alleged sexual abuse of more than 80,000 former scouts.
Asked whether the sale was related to the ongoing lawsuit, Saxon said that while the council is contributing funding toward the settlements, the Camp Sunrise sale is unrelated.
“Resolving and being a party to the national bankruptcy through participating in the largest survivors trust that’s ever been created for survivors of abuse has been an important priority for the council. But it has not been something that’s directly impacted Camp Sunrise,” he said.
While Saxon expressed appreciation for the state’s involvement, he said the council is “incredibly disappointed that it wasn’t able to come together the way that we all hoped.”
“But we understand,” he said, “and we maintain a mindset where hopefully there’s going to be an opportunity that will allow us to achieve as much of our objectives as possible.”
The state Agency of Natural Resources valued the purchase price of the land and associated costs at $1.46 million. They estimated that near-term expenses would include the addition of a $900,000 bath house, a new $500,000 wastewater system and the replacement of Sunrise Lake Dam, which would cost $450,000.
Some residents questioned why the state couldn’t purchase the land for conservation purposes only, adding it to the state’s portfolio of forested land without constructing new facilities.
Julie Moore, secretary of the agency, said some of the state’s concern comes from the popularity of the waterfront.
She pointed to the south end of Lake Willoughby, which she said is a “really challenging area for us,” and added that, at lake shores like Willoughby and Sunset, “we almost love them to death.”
It would be in the best interest of the property to build a staffed facility to manage the waterfront, Moore said. Even if it were to remain unstaffed, an analysis conducted by the state caused state officials to conclude that the Sunrise Lake Dam would need to be replaced.
Moore said the state isn’t the only entity that could conserve the property. According to Saxon, some private, mission-driven organizations have been interested in Camp Sunrise, but he declined to name which ones.
“It’s an incredible asset and a really expensive one,” Moore said. “And I think there are a lot of organizations that are running up against the same math we are.”
Casey, the Orwell resident, expressed disappointment that the state didn’t bite.
“It’s just extremely short sighted,” she said, citing challenges kids and educators have faced recently in schools, trauma that has resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic and addiction.
“Something like conserving land — that’s part of the infrastructure for a healthy community,” Casey said.
