The long drawn out battle between Royal Rangers Adventure Camp proponents and many community residents continues and after at least three years of infighting it appears there is no "cease fire" in sight.

Local residents are determined the Twin Peaks location and the scope of the project far outweigh any advantages to the mountain communities, and they know the project will have huge effects on the narrow county and state highways that border the property and on adjacent neighborhoods. And those issues are just the beginning.

The latest salvo came after Tim Bruder, David Vincent from Royal Rangers along with their planner, Fred Talarico gave a presentation to the members of the Crest Forest Municipal Advisory Council on May 17 at San Moritz Lodge. The meeting was attended by several residents who take issue with the scope of the project which, if approved, will be built on more than 50 acres of property along State Highway 189 across from Pinecrest Camp, which is also owned by the Assemblies of God Church.

As revised, the project will still include 280 tent camp sites around 16 fire circles with anywhere from two to 10 campers per tent; seven small staff cabins and a commissary, office and infirmary, a 51,600 square foot children's environmental education conference center with 248 beds, a dining room, meeting rooms and gymnasium, a 75-seat outdoor chapel, a 900-seat enclosed amphitheater, a 50-yard gun range, 25-yard archery range, swimming pools, volleyball, basketball and rope apparatus areas, nature trails, a mountain bike course, bike shop, maintenance shop, bathroom and storage facilities throughout the site with 250 paved parking spaces and 50 overflow grass parking spaces.

County Planner Tina Twing is not sure whether or not the dormitory and planned tent sites are included in the maximum "head count" of 650 and she said this is something she must clarify with Royal Rangers.

During an interview with Royal Rangers representative Tim Bruder on May 31 he told The Mountain News the maximum 650 campers per day includes the dormitory beds and tent sites.

Notices of the revisions Royal Rangers has submitted to the county have been mailed to adjacent property owners and interested residents, several of whom attended the May 17 meeting. During the meeting Land Planner Fred Talarico from Vista in Laguna Beach said Royal Rangers is willing to reduce the maximum number of campers to 650 per day and they will only reach that figure six times per year when the boys Christian-based organizations holds their "Pow-Wows."

The rest of the year the average number of campers on site will not exceed 225, they say. However, critics say, those "averages" aren't necessarily accurate because in order to get a yearly average there may be more campers on site at one time but fewer campers at another time in order for the average to remain 225.

Twing and Julie Rynerson, Current Planning division chief, said since the project has been reduced planning staff is reviewing the documents and is making a chart so they and the public can better compare the original project to the revised project.

Because the project is so complex and there are so many residents opposed to the project county planning officials are trying to get a "handle" on what's going on with the proposal and the differences between the original and revised plans so they can be more easily understood by everyone.

One thing is sure, the size of the newly-named Nature/Environmental Center is the same square footage (51,600 square feet) as the originally proposed fort.

On May 31 Bruder told The Mountain News the new center will be made of concrete and will resemble logs and the walls will be 28 feet high with 38 foot high towers. He also said the dormitory/environmental center will consist of four separated buildings which will be separated by about 16 feet.

The nature study and museum will be located in the center of the buildings and there will not be a "catwalk" on the top so people cannot walk from building to building. Bruder said it made sense to have the nature study/museum area close to the dormitories, dining room, etc. and the buildings will be separate from one another.

"We think it will look like a great lodge not a stockade like we proposed before," he said, adding, "However a two-story structure is still a two-story structure."

FOOLED BY THE ROYAL RANGERS

Some people left the May 17 MAC meeting thinking Royal Rangers had significantly downscaled the size of the fort in favor of a smaller children's environmental center. They were surprised and enraged to learn the building would be as large as the originally-proposed 51,600 square foot fort.

A check of local websites showed that some people felt representatives deliberately downplayed the new proposal for the children's environmental center in order to make the project sound more palatable to the public.

Royal Rangers agreed to move the large complex 400 feet into the project rather than having it so close to the highway and said they are willing to move much of the parking back into the project as well rather than having it so visible from the highway.

However, many people were furious because they felt they had been duped by Royal Rangers representatives.

"They really fed us a lot of bologna. They said they did away with the fort in favor of an education center but it still has 28 foot high walls and 38 foot towers. A fort by another name is still a fort!" said mountain resident Carol Pedder.

The small 75-seat outdoor chapel is still part of the project but there will not be any lighting or amplification if the project is approved, said Twing.

One of the amphitheaters has been deleted from the original proposal leaving the remaining 900-seat amphitheater as part of the revised plan. This outdoor site will be enclosed. The 50-yard gun range is still part of the project even though this is a "lighting rod" for concern within the community for its noise and fire-related concerns.

GUN RANGE WORRIES

The black powder range is extremely controversial, not only due to noise and the possible fire threat but in other meetings it has been challenged as an unneeded and undesired part of the camp project and has no part in a church-sponsored program.

Royal Rangers uses gun ranges so their campers can earn badges, much the same as Boy Scout programs.

Following a telephone conversation with Supervisor Paul Biane's chief of staff, Marshall Riley, he told The Mountain News that during their regular May 25 meeting MAC members voted to not recommend the project be approved because they believed Royal Rangers had not made enough changes to mitigate the concerns expressed over the original plan. Also, since the community did not support the original plans nor the revisions they could not support the project as amended.

MANY MEETINGS

Throughout the past year Royal Rangers has received several planning commission hearing dates but each has been postponed for a variety of reasons.

Currently the matter is tentatively scheduled for 9 a.m. on Thursday, June 23 but both Rynerson and Twing feel it will most likely be postponed again because the county needs further documents from Royal Rangers regarding several issues and the county staff must then have time for review documents prior to the hearing.

Twing said she believes a new forestry report is needed because of the 2003 Old Fire and the loss of so many trees which have died from the bark beetle infestation.

"It would be in the best interest of the applicant to do this report," she said. She also believes a new sound study should be done because the loss of the trees will mean changes in how sound travels to nearby areas but the exact studies which must be submitted have yet to be officially requested.

Earlier this year, in a March 17 Mountain News story Twing was quoted as saying, "If Royal Rangers wants to move forward with their project [as originally planned or with the revisions they've been willing to make thus far], the April 21 hearing can probably move forward. However, if that occurs, planning staff will continue to recommend the project 'not be approved.'"

At that time The Mountain News reported the only way planning staff could recommend the project be approved is if Royal Rangers significantly cuts back the scale of the multi-faceted project, including removal of proposed 51,600 square foot fort which would house dormitories, a dining room and other facilities.

In March Royal Rangers was still proposing a maximum camp capacity of 1,048 campers and staff members.

As far back as January 2005 county planning staff was not recommending the project be approved unless it was greatly reduced; however, during a pre May 17 meeting interview Bruder and other Royal Ranger representatives told The Mountain News they never had "anything in writing" from county planning staff stating their intended recommendation of denial. However, this has been challenged by planning staff who state the organization was informed of staff's determination in several different ways.

In January, before the project was revised, The Mountain News reported that Twing said, "In planning staff's opinion a valid argument cannot be made that there are social and economic benefits to the community resulting from the project which would outweigh the environmental impacts."

Following Talarico's presentation to the public at the May 17 MAC meeting resident

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