Hinsdale Zoning Board Continues Campground Hearing After Late-Arriving Traffic Review

HINSDALE — December 15, 2021 — Hinsdale's Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously continued a major campground special permit hearing after a peer-review traffic memo arrived the same evening as the meeting. The board, chaired by Dan Blackburn, is weighing Northgate-Zorah Ventures LLC's application to convert the former Camp Emerson site into a 317-pad commercial campground resort abutting Belmont Reservoir, the town's primary water supply. MDM Engineering's Dan Dumais confirmed the project could generate more than 1,000 vehicle trips on a peak Saturday. Town consultant David Prickett of DPC Engineering identified six unresolved concerns, chief among them sewer infrastructure integrity and water and sewer connection fees, warning the board, "You're giving away gold when you give away that capacity." Northgate general counsel Chelsea Boeserrope said the company had underwritten the project assuming only an $800-per-connection flat fee and called a DPC proposal for full equivalent-dwelling-unit charges a surprise. The next hearing is set for January 11, 2022.