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Planning commission recommends expansion of Camp Watermarks to allow up to 250 on-site and year‑round sessions
Summary
The commission recommended approval of an amendment to Camp Watermarks' special-use permit to raise the maximum on-site population to 250, add weekend sessions to permit year‑round retreats, and consolidate conditions (including a 15 round-trip bus/van trip limit); staff noted outstanding code compliance items but recommended approval contingent on updated conditions.
The Albemarle County Planning Commission on Aug. 11 voted to recommend approval of SP 20260002, an amendment for Camp Watermarks that would expand the camp's approved footprint across seven parcels and raise the maximum permitted on-site population to 250 people while allowing additional weekend sessions (the proposal would consolidate a previous limit into a total of up to 51 sessions per year).
"The proposal seeking to increase it from about a 100 people to a maximum of 250 people on-site at any 1 time," JT Newberry, senior planner with the county Department of Community Development, told the commission while reviewing staff's recommended conditions. Staff said the majority of the structures the applicant proposes to use are existing and located in previously disturbed areas and that no new disturbance is proposed within stream buffers or floodplain. Newberry emphasized that staff found the proposal consistent with the applicable factors in the county code, subject to updated conditions and clarifications.
Newberry and other staff acknowledged there are about 21 active applications and outstanding compliance items tied to the property; the staff report said the applicant has been responsive and is pursuing permits and inspections to bring buildings and systems into compliance. The fire marshal will conduct annual inspections, and the health department issues separate annual permits for the camp and dining facility and will review the septic system on a five‑year cycle.
Josh Preitzer, president and director of Camp Watermarks, said the 250‑person limit is based on septic-system capacity and that the camp is using existing farm buildings rather than constructing new structures. "This number comes from our septic system that was designed and installed a few years back and what it's rated to handle," Preitzer said. He described the camp as a multigenerational, family-run operation that uses charter buses for arrivals and seeks flexibility to continue both farming and camp operations.
Commissioners asked detailed questions about how conditions would bind the use to a boarding‑camp purpose, how growth would be managed, emergency procedures for severe storms affecting campers near the river, and the distinction between agricultural and recreational uses on the same property. Staff responded that recommended conditions are specific to boarding-camp use and that materially different uses requiring a separate SUP would need a separate review; staff and the applicant described on-site emergency procedures and inspection regimes.
A motion to recommend approval with staff's conditions 1–7 passed by recorded vote. The planning commission's recommendation goes next to the Board of Supervisors, which will make the final decision.
