Two Route 611 campgrounds. two different reactions

Cruising down Route 611 from West Ocean City, the sprawl of tourist shops, quaint diners and RV campsites breaks as drivers pass the intersection of Assateague Road, entering into a zone of woodlands occasionally interrupted by a house or two.

On this well-traveled rural gateway to Assateague Island, a debate has intensified, as residents fear for their way of life as developers move in.

The site of the defunct Pine Shore golf course, located south of the Assateague Road intersection, was purchased by Blue Water Development Corp., which hopes to turn it into an 300-site campground called Ayers Creek. In total, more than 500 new campsites are planned between Ayers Creek and the close-by Frontier Town campground sites.

These two campgrounds, separated by Assateague Road (Route 376), bear a stark difference. Frontier Town, now zoned as agricultural, was formerly a commercial district. On the opposite side, the proposed Ayers Creek Campground sits in a residential area, a zoning change potentially having an impact on residents.

With Frontier Town less than a half mile down the road from the proposed Ayers Creek site, Joan Jenkins, a resident opposed to the new campground, said it's a world away.

"When you cross that road (Assateague Road), you're entering a residential area," Jenkins said. "There's a bunch of these campground and RV sites, like Castaways, in that area. Here (on Route 611), these are residencies, and there's traffic concerns — there's safety concerns."

As a major economic driver and a national interest in camping grows, the expansion at the well-established Frontier Town went through with little to no resistance.

Yet residents voicing concerns on safety and the changing landscape with Ayers Creek Campground have slowed the rezoning process to a crawl.

"We don't know when we're going to be meeting next," said Hugh Cropper, the attorney representing the development. "We have nothing planned, and we still need to get the zoning down before we can move forward. There's a long way to go."

The property was meant to go to the Worcester County Board of Zoning Appeals on Feb. 9. That meeting was dropped from the board's schedule, and has not been rescheduled, said Bob Mitchell, Worcester County's director of environmental programs.

READ MORE: Proposed campsite on 611 receives pushback

Cropper also represented the expansion to Frontier Town, owned by Sun Communities, which will add 200 campsites to the existing 584 beginning in the fall.

"It goes against the comprehensive plan" 

For both the Frontier Town and Ayers Creek projects, a change in zoning was, or is, necessary. For Frontier Town, the board altered zoning from commercial to agricultural, allowing for the expansion.

Nick DiBella, district vice president of Sun Communities, said they received no resistance in the Frontier Town expansion.

READ MORE: Frontier Town, other Delmarva Campgrounds, expanding

"Changing it to agricultural, if traffic is a concern, is a good thing," Cropper said. "When this area was commercial, a lot of other things could have gone there that would have had an impact on traffic more. A shopping mall could have gone there."

But for Ayers Creek, the shift is from a residential designation to agricultural — a change that Jenkins said will likely cause more traffic.

"All of the people coming to these campsites in the summer is going to cause a traffic nightmare," Jenkins said. "Not to mention, it goes against the comprehensive plan."

The Worcester County Comprehensive Development Plan, adopted in 2006, states the area of Route 611 leading to Assateague, past Assateague Road, is to be planned and developed "to continue this road’s rural and coastal character."

Blue Water is no stranger to contention. A proposed development of a campground in Earleville, Maryland, received widespread backlash from the Cecil County community in late 2016 and the beginning of this year.

A bill would have permitted commercial uses in areas zoned low-density residential zones, allowing for the campground to be constructed. On Feb. 7, the bill was denied.

Cecil County Tourism Manager Sandy Turner argued in favor of the campground.

"From a tourism perspective, a campground would be a good economic engine," Turner said during a meeting.

The decision to reject the bill was one made to prevent a wave of campgrounds opening up in residential areas, said Cecil County Commission Manager James Massey.

"What worried us was the idea that, if we allow for this campground to build, that they'd pop up in all of our low-density residential areas," Massey said. "We have a lot of those in the center of the county, and we want to be able to protect them."

Massey noted that there are numerous, nonresidential areas on the north and south ends of the county that are far better suited for campgrounds.

READ MORE: Chincoteague waterpark closer to becoming reality

"We all decided that it was best for these campgrounds to be built there, rather than residential neighborhoods," Massey said.

Much like with the Ayers Creek project, the development was plagued with outrage from community, Massey said.

"We had many people, residents who lived nearby, who spoke out against this, and did not want to have campgrounds built where they live," Massey said.

Traffic a main point of contention 

Traffic was also cited as a point of contention in the Earleville site, similar to Ayers Creek.

In Worcester, the comprehensive plan recommendation for preservation came with an acknowledged boom in average daily traffic on Route 611, more than doubling between 1990 and 2003 from 3,400 to 8,925 vehicles.

Traffic on Route 611 has leveled off since the tourism boom to West Ocean City and Berlin in the 1990s. In 2015, an average daily traffic of 9,652 vehicles traveled on Route 611 north of Assateague Road, and 7,652 south, according to the Maryland State Highway Administration.

Likewise, the number of traffic accidents in Worcester County have become consistent, with an average of 1,165 per year between 2009 and 2013, according to the State Highway Administration's most recent data. That rate peaked at 1,203 in 2012, and hit a low at 1,087 in 2011.

In line with traffic trends, Cropper argued that the number of vehicles brought by the campground would likely be far less than what was generated by the golf course.

"You have to think of it as — with a golf course, you have people coming in, playing a couple rounds and driving out," he said. "There's a lot of of in-and-out traffic. With the campground, these people are coming to stay. Once they're parked and set up, they don't really go anywhere."

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Campground not welcome at Pine Shore

As neighboring campgrounds look to grow, Assateague Island's visitation numbers have increased in the past decade. In 2006, 1.9 million visitors came to the Maryland and Virginia side of Assateague and Chincoteague, according to the National Park Service. In 2016, that number was 2.3 million, with fluctuations in between.

The past two years saw the highest visitation rates since 1988. The record was set in 1987, when more than 2.6 million people visited the park. Meanwhile, Assateague State Park announced the closing of eight of its campsites due to sea level rise, moving an additional 18 further inland.

For Jenkins, protection of the homeowners who don't want to deal with the inevitable burdens of a nearby campground is also a worry. It's also why hundreds met at the Ocean Pines Library to discuss a proposed campground on Dec. 28, 2016.

"We have a lot of concerns," Jenkins said. "We don't want the smoke from campfires, we worry about the noise, we worry about trespassing, we worry about the pollution into Ayers Creek."

While the project is at a standstill, awaiting public comment and approval for rezoning, Cropper said that the inevitable economic benefits of the campground will sway the board to vote in favor of the site.

"There's no reason to believe that this campground will have a negative impact," Cropper said. "If anything, it will bring more visitors to Worcester County, who will put money into our economy and support our local businesses."

For Jenkins, the reality is, simply, a threat to her homestead.

"I have to ask, would you want this where you live?" Jenkins said.