SNOW HILL – County officials approved a growth allocation request this week that is expected to allow a local campground to expand.
The Worcester County Commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to reclassify 33 acres from Resource Conservation Area (RCA) to Limited Development Area (LDA). The critical area designation change, which was previously given a favorable recommendation by the Worcester County Planning Commission, is expected to allow the Island Resort Campground in Newark to expand.
“Staff looked through the project and we thought it was a good fit based upon the expansion of the existing campground,” said David Bradford, the county’s deputy director of environmental programs.
Island Resort Campground, which is on land that was previously home to a surface mine (borrow pit), got a special exception approval that allowed it to open as a campground in 2005, according to attorney Mark Cropper. When the zoning code got changed in 2009, the campground became a legal non-conforming use. He said the growth allocation request would allow the facility to add 62 more campsites.
According to county staff, Worcester County has 369 acres of growth allocation available in the Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Area Program. The Island Resort request would use 33 acres of that allocation.