The Girl Scouts Adventure Place at Mountain Home project, first proposed more than four years ago, is expected to be on the agenda of the Salisbury Township Planning Commission, 7 p.m. March 27, in the meeting room of the municipal building, 2900 S. Pike Ave.

The Girl Scouts’ agenda item was confirmed in an email from Kerry H. Rabold, Salisbury Township planning and zoning officer, to a reporter for The Press.

The Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners voted 4-0 with one commissioner absent at its Feb. 22 meeting to approve a motion accepting a time extension to Aug. 31 for the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania land development for Adventure Place at Mountain Home, 2638 W. Rock Road, west of the Interstate 78 interchange at Summit Lawn on South Mountain.

The Girl Scouts are to build an approximate 7,000-square-foot, one-story with basement building that will be heated; have bathrooms with showers, sinks and flush toilets; activities rooms; staff office; trading post for purchase of Girl Scouts items and paved parking area for 15 vehicles.

“The reason [for the extension] is that we’ve received approval for the sewer module from DEP [Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection]. We want to go before the [township] planning commission,” Attorney Kendra L. Eden, Fitzpatrick Lentz Bubba Attorneys at Law, representing the Girl Scouts, said at the Feb. 22 meeting, before the commissioners’ vote.

“The DEP has approved the planning module,” Attorney Jason A. Ulrich, partner, Gross McGinley, Attorneys at Law, LLP, Salisbury Township solicitor, said at the meeting. “The letter was issued for final approval,” Ulrich said.

Township commissioners voted 5-0 at the Sept. 14, 2023, meeting to approve revisions to the project’s Sewage Facilities Planning Module.

“That plan is with DEP,” Salisbury Township Assistant Manager-Director, Community Development Sandy Nicolo said at the Oct. 27, 2023, commissioners’ meeting attended by approximately 20 Summit Lawn residents.

“Once DEP approves the sewer module, everything goes back to the township planning commission. And that’s when the conversation would start,” Nicolo said.

Nicolo said residents would be notified of the planning commission meeting pertaining to the Girl Scouts’ project. That meeting would appear to be taking place March 27.

The Salisbury Township Zoning Hearing Board voted unanimously 5-0 at its March 9, 2020, meeting, which was more than four hours and the third and final zoning hearing on the project, to approve the Girl Scouts’ appeal. An estimated 100 attended each of three zoning hearings in the Salisbury Middle School cafeteria.

Summit Lawn residents have voiced concerns about the project’s impact on wells, stormwater runoff and traffic.

The Girl Scouts’ appeal was for a special exception to construct the building as an expansion of a special exception use and a favorable interpretation to permit an existing cabin to remain as a nonconforming structure.

Trees would need to be removed for construction of the building, parking lot and septic field.

The approval stipulated at least 10 conditions, including: the building is restricted to Girl Scouts’ recreation use and administration of the facility, the Trading Post will operate during camp hours, 10 trees to be cut down must be replaced by 10 trees, the number of Girl Scouts attending the camp is limited to 55 per week, the Girl Scouts will provide a trained safety monitor during camp pickup and drop-off times of Girl Scouts, speed-limit information will be provided to parents and guardians and a lighting plan for the parking lot must be submitted.

The Feb. 4, 2020, Salisbury Township Zoning Hearing Board meeting, which included two hours of testimony, was moved from the municipal building meeting room to the SMS cafeteria to accommodate the number of residents. A second hearing, which included four hours of testimony, was held there Feb. 18, 2020.

The zoning hearings were held before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown of mid-March 2020.

The project must receive a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, which requires DEP approval of the sewer planning module.

Approval of the project’s sewer planning module by the DEP was subject to COVID-related delays, according to then Salisbury Township Consulting Engineer David J. Tettemer of Keystone Consulting Engineers, Inc.

The Girl Scouts submitted a sketch plan for Adventure Place to the Salisbury Township Planning Commission at its Dec. 10, 2019, meeting, attended by an estimated 60 Summit Lawn residents who filled the meeting room in the municipal building.

What is now Mountain House Day Camp is attended by approximately 45 Girls Scouts each week.

Hours for the camp are to be 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekly mid-June to mid-August for several age levels. There would be four to 11 employees.

The site, which is in the township’s C-R Conservation Residential Zoning District, has on-site water facilities and no latrine sanitary sewage facilities. There are no indoor bathroom facilities at the camp.

The camp has tent platforms, pavilion, lodge, cabin, garage, kiln, fire pit, other buildings and a gravel road.

The Girl Scouts has owned the approximate 15.21-acre site and operated it as a private recreation area since 1952. A cabin has been on the property since 1943.