Bingham Hill events center gets green light

By Ani S. Delmont
North Forty News

A scaled-down but embattled business proposal that would turn a scenic property at 3924 Bingham Hill Road into a camp and events center has cleared its final hurdle.

In a 2-1 vote that trumped the planning commission's opposition to part of the project, county commissioners supported Randy and Sheryl Pope's plan to host 60 events and up to 5,400 guests a year on their 10-acre property one-half mile west of North Overland Trail.

In approving the plan, commissioner Lew Gaiter III commended the Popes for changing their proposal "from the first request" and doing "everything they can within reason to be compatible with the surrounding area."

Gaiter argued that The Reserve at Bingham Hill wouldn't be the first business in the area and that its impact would be negligible. The neighbors were primarily the ones creating the incompatibility by not giving the Popes' business a chance, he added.

"For change to be harmonious it's incumbent on the neighbors as well to at least attempt to find some middle ground," Gaiter said at the May 10 public hearing. "If we had seen some attempt at middle ground – at least if I had; I can't speak for the other two commissioners – and the Popes were unwilling to move, then my position would be different."

Commissioner Steve Johnson conceded that the venue wouldn't be the first in the historic, rural area. "But I don't think any other business in the area brings in more than 5,000 visitors in a seven-month period into the neighborhood," he said. "I can't help but think that will change the character of the neighborhood."

Johnson sided with the planning commission in approving the 20-guest camp, but not the larger events venue. He emphasized that the hearing was a special review.

"This is a person asking to do something that's not permitted," Johnson said. "The burden of proof is on the applicant to prove that what's being proposed is compatible with the neighborhood."

While praising the Popes for mitigating impact, commissioner Tom Donnelly cast the second vote in favor of the project.

"I do think when the Popes brought this project forward we were looking at something that was too intense for the neighborhood," Donnelly said. "It truly was. And we did ask them to take it back and have another look at it, and they did and they diminished the number of events substantially."

He said the Popes' landscaping concealed the controversial 50-vehicle parking lot that neighbors called an eyesore. "You couldn't even see where that parking lot was going to be constructed," he said.

In the final vote, commissioners decided 2-1 to let the Popes expand their existing gymnasium by 50 feet and turn it into a community hall for 12 weddings and corporate events per year. They will also be allowed to host 18 weddings this year and build the parking lot.

The seasonal camp that would accommodate Bible study groups, corporate retreats and basketball camps from March through September got a unanimous thumbs-up. Likewise, all three commissioners approved giving Pope one year to finish paving the new parking lot.

Randy Pope said his revised plan decreased the event center's overall intensity by lengthening the camp season to seven months, leaving fewer days for larger gatherings. The camp would sleep up to 20 people at a time in 10-by-10-foot tents. They would use the kitchen and three bathrooms he would add to the gymnasium.

While describing the events center as a "major outdoor venue," Pope assured the panel that music would be limited to 100 decibels, kept indoors and switched off by 10 p.m.

County traffic engineers said the estimated 1.28 percent increase in traffic wouldn't warrant an additional right-hand turn lane. Neighbors had protested that another 50 to 60 vehicles on the hilly, winding road traveling to an event would mar the neighborhood's peace and safety.

"We'll certainly be monitoring the noise level and the number of people there to make sure he doesn't have code violations," neighbor Shelby Majors told the North Forty News, adding that proving a violation would be difficult because of code compliance officers' limited work schedules. "Enforcement is extremely difficult," she said.