A private campground and bed-and-breakfast in the Spearsville area received permission last week to have 40 campsites, 51 RV spots and nine cabins — all of which have been there since 2012.

The owners of Camp Buckwood/Four Seasons Lodge on Spearsville Road went before the Brown County Board of Zoning Appeals Oct. 23 to ask for forgiveness and permission. Tom Bunger, speaking for owners Darrell Gill and Ben Gleason, told the BZA that his clients had called the Brown County planning and zoning office years ago seeking an electrical permit and received one from a person who is no longer working in that office, and that’s all that Gill and Gleason thought they needed to add those new buildings and camping spots.

BZA member Darla Brown wasn’t sure about that argument. The owners had come before the BZA in October 2003 for their original application for a private recreational development, so they would have known about the process, she said.

Camp Buckwood/Four Seasons Lodge had been permitted since 2003 to have 20 tent spaces and five RV hookups, in addition to the lodge/bed-and-breakfast that was already there. The BZA also permitted a swimming pool and pool house; hot tub/spa; utility buildings; and sites for volleyball, horseshoes, badminton, basketball and “other recreational activities.”

Now, the property has 60 tent spaces with electric, 56 RV spaces with water and electric, and nine cabins with electric.

Brown asked how the extra spaces and buildings came to the county’s attention, and the answer was because the owners came in to get a permit for a new pool. It wasn’t because the neighbors turned them in, she clarified.

Camp Buckwood is a members-only, men-only, clothing-optional club on 48.6 acres, bordered on all sides by privately-owned, residential land.

What Gill and Gleason were asking for wouldn’t result in a great many more people coming to the property than are already visiting, Bunger said.

He said they were “not thumbing our noses at what the requirements were; we truly believed we were doing what we were supposed to do.”

The BZA received three letters from neighbors opposed to what some called an “expansion” of the property, though what the request mainly was was to make what’s already there legal.

The application also mentioned adding a gatehouse, septic system upgrade, picnic shelters for tent areas, a storage unit, an open-air pavilion, a food service pavilion, an additional swimming pool, a camp store, a dog park, and a picnic shelter and lake overlook. Bunger said they’d remove all of those requests — which were long-term future ideas — from the application, except for the pool and for the septic system upgrade which was already underway.

In addition to the three letters from opposed neighbors, four others attended the meeting in person. Some said they were not aware of what existed at the property; one couple referred to a letter from Gill in 2003 that mentioned camping “for small church groups.” “This is what we thought was at 8670 Spearsville Road when we purchased our property and built our home next door,” wrote Nathan and Amanya Arnold.

Neighbors mentioned noise at an “unreal” level until the wee hours of the morning; rodents from the property’s Dumpsters entering a nearby home; heavy traffic from RVs and travel trailers; guests trespassing onto their property; seeing naked men at the camp through the woods; and not being able to enjoy their own properties because of all this.

“I have nothing against you guys,” said neighbor Kevin Addison to the owners. “… But I don’t bother anybody and I don’t want anybody to bother me. I ask that you turn this down,” he said to the BZA.

“We didn’t ask for this,” said neighbor Tim McGovern. “You guys wouldn’t want this at your place,” he told the board. He was frustrated that nobody had done anything about the additions to the property in all these years. “It blows my mind. We’ve all got investments (in our own properties). We have rights, too,” he said.

Bunger said his clients were only aware of one noise complaint. Neighbors said that’s because they’d called a deputy they know personally and were told that the county had no noise ordinance, which is true. But that also meant that the owners didn’t know there were complaints, so they were unable to address them, Bunger said. The owners said they’d given their phone numbers to all the neighbors, and a phone number is also listed on the property’s website.

To address the complaints of visible nudity, the owners agreed to build a privacy fence along the southern and western sides of the property, from Spearsville Road to the southwest corner and from that corner to the “holler” on the western edge of the parcel.

Gleason said he’d already been working on the Dumpster complaint, and that they “would work tirelessly to combat any problems they have with us.”

Private recreational developments do not have to be inspected on a regular basis by the planning and zoning office to make sure they’re complying with the terms of their approval. The BZA added a condition that Camp Buckwood be inspected annually for that purpose. The bed-and-breakfast on the property already gets an inspection every three years.

Another condition is that noise will end at 10 p.m., “strictly enforced,” said BZA member “Buzz” King. BZA member Deborah Bartes said that if neighbors do hear noise after that time, she hopes they’ll use the numbers provided until the phones “ring off the hook.”

The property is closed between November and the middle of April, so the owners promised to have the fence up by opening day in 2020, April 17.

Neighbor Matthew Fannin said that if the owners would have followed the proper channels back in 2012, none of this would have been an issue, because they would have been able to speak out about it before the changes happened. Another neighbor said they should be penalized for breaking the rules.

“If we were in law enforcement, that would be our business,” said BZA President John Dillberger.

The vote was unanimous to grant the owners’ request.

Four residents spoke in favor at the hearing, highlighting the good work club members do in the community, like giving $56,359.73 to Mother’s Cupboard over the past eight years; the extra visitors the club brings into Brown County to spend money; the owners’ “proactive” attitude toward meeting health department regulations; and the welcoming community that has grown at the property.

“They’re just good people, and they deserve what they’re asking for,” said Mother’s Cupboard Director Sherry Houze.