Five years after approving Adventure Place at Mountain House, the Salisbury Township Zoning Hearing Board has again approved the project.

However, the project has undergone a big change.

The Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, Inc. will not construct a new building. Instead, an existing house will be renovated.

The Salisbury Township Zoning Hearing Board voted unanimously 5-0 at the March 12 hearing to approve a special exception approval to consolidate lots 2638 and 2660 W. Rock Road and expand the existing special exception use by converting a single-family detached dwelling into a nonprofit private recreation area.

The property in the township CR, Conservation-Residential, zoning district is west of the Interstate 78 interchange at Summit Lawn on South Mountain.

“The original approval appeared only one week before COVID,” Salisbury Township Zoning Officer Kerry Rabold said at the start of the one-hour-and 45-minute portion of the March 12 hearing when the Girl Scouts’ revised project was discussed.

The township zoning hearing board voted unanimously at the March 9, 2020, third and final hearing to approve the project. Township zoners also reviewed the project at Feb. 4 and Feb. 18, 2020, hearings. The project was first presented at the Salisbury Township Planning Commission Dec. 10, 2019, meeting.

The zoning hearings were held before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. On March 13, 2020, Gov. Tom Wolf closed schools and on March 16, 2020, social-distancing was extended in Pennsylvania.

The Girl Scouts acquired 2660 W. Rock Road, known as the Persing House, which is 3,238-square-feet, in 2021. The project totals 17.21 acres, that of 15.21 acres for the original Mountain House tract, 2638 W. Rock Road, and two acres for the Persing House.

The Persing House property purchase was 40 acres, 38 acres of which the Girl Scouts sold to the Wildlands Conservancy.

The existing Girl Scouts building will remain as is. None of the front portion of the property will be changed. The footprint of the Persing House will not be altered.

The new project will need to be reviewed by the township planning commission and the board of commissioners.

“We are ready to move forward,” Attorney Frank N. D’Amore, Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba, Allentown, said, representing the Girl Scouts at the March 12 hearing in the municipal building meeting room attended by approximately 10 township residents.

D’Amore said the project meets the 5-acre minimum and does not exceed the 10% impervious surface covering.

“This project is all-around better for the environment and the community,” D’Amore said.

“We found it could be a great alternative and more environmentally-conscious,” Kim Fraites-Dow, Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania chief executive officer said, of the revised project.

Also representing the project at the hearing was Justin Massie, project manager, Terraform Engineering, LLC, Bethlehem.

Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania represents nine counties, has 25,000 Girl Scouts members, owns 1,500 acres and has a $20-million annual budget.

“Our camps provide opportunities for girls to be outdoors and learn about environmental stewardship,” Fraites-Dow said.

The Girl Scouts have owned and operated Mountain House since 1942, it was stated at the hearing.

“Mountain House is a day camp,” Fraites-Dow said, noting that, typically, 30 to 40 Girls Scouts attend. Hours for the camp were originally set at 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekly June to mid-August. The camp is not open to the public.

Persing House will be renovated for use as meeting rooms, with bathrooms added and a “Trading Post” for the sale of Girl Scouts’ items. “It’s not an ongoing retail store,” Fraites-Dow said of the shop.

Staffing for Mountain House is estimated at possibly six persons, mostly on a Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Before, the staff would be coming or going. That would not be the case now,” Fraites-Dow said.

The previous plan estimated 27 trees would be removed; in the new plan, it’s estimated one tree would be removed.

The sewer module for the project would be the same.

Township commissioners voted 5-0 at the July 25, 2024, township commissioners’ meeting to approve the original Adventure Place plan. Approval of the plan by commissioners was recommended by the township planning commission at the March 27, 2024, meeting.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection approved the project’s sewage facilities planning module, which is required for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, in a Feb. 8, 2024 letter to township officials. The DEP required a drip-irrigation system.

“That same plan would go along with this one,” D’Amore said.

“The plan that is shown was the same that was approved by the DEP,” Fraites-Dow said.

Among the five township residents who spoke at the March 12 hearing, Jacqueline Straley, a Summit Lawn resident, said of the Girl Scouts’ project, “I’m totally against it. But there’s nothing I can do tonight. It is what it is.”

“Back in March 2020, we had some 10 hours of testimony. What we have before us tonight seems less impactful. I commend them [the Girl Scouts] for going through to minimize construction,” zoning hearing board Vice Chairman Attorney Ian Baxter said.

The Salisbury Township Zoning Hearing Board is next scheduled to meet 7 p.m. April 9.

Other Salisbury Township meetings in the municipal building, 2900 S. Pike Ave., include: 7 p.m. March 26, planning commission and 7 p.m. March 27, board of commissioners.