At least two Boy Scout councils in New Jersey are selling their camps to help cover their share of a nearly $1.9 billion national bankruptcy settlement to pay thousands of victims of sexual abuse.
The Patriots’ Path Council — which includes 11,000 Scouts in Morris, Somerset, Sussex, Union and parts of Middlesex County — told its members earlier this month that it entered into a contract to sell Sabattis Adventure Camp, its beloved campground in the Adirondack Mountains.
“This decision was not easy and involved months of consideration by our executive board and special bankruptcy committees,” council leaders wrote in a letter sent to Patriots’ Path members.
Sabattis Adventure Camp, a 1,250-acre camp on a 250-acre lake in Adirondack Park, has hosted Boy Scouts from New Jersey for summer camp and weekend campouts for more than 60 years. The historic property was first developed by Charles Daniels, an eight-time Olympic medalist in swimming, in the early 1900s.
The announcement of the sale of the Patriots’ Path camp came less than two months after the Boy Scouts’ Jersey Shore Council announced it is selling its campground in Toms River for $1.1 million to help pay its portion of national sexual abuse settlement deal.
Under the proposed Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy deal, non-profit Boy Scout councils across the country are expected to sell assets and dip into endowments and savings to pay their portions of the $1.9 billion settlement for men who were sexually abused while participating in scouting as children.
The individual councils, which run day-to-day operations for local Scout troops, have each been assigned a dollar amount in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy settlement. Each council is expected to come up with a plan to make the payment.
Many Boy Scout councils — including groups in New York, Wisconsin, Arizona, Maine and other states — have sold campgrounds or announced they are looking for buyers. That has raised concerns from environmentalists and community leaders that property that has been open space and used by children for generations will be sold for development.
Some of the proposed Boy Scout camp sales in other parts of the country have already led to protests and lawsuits.
The Patriots’ Path Council council did not disclose the purchase price for the Sabattis Adventure Camp. They also did not name the buyer, except to say the purchaser is a neighbor of the camp who has “agreed to permit the council to use the property for at least five more years,” according to the letter from council leaders.
A previous proposal to sell Sabattis Adventure Camp in 2017 was delayed by the Boy Scout council after nearly 2,000 people signed a petition to save the camp.
“It is a true gem that we cannot afford to lose!,” the petition said. “Scouts and Scouters get to experience the serenity of the Adirondack Mountains while earning merit badges, kayaking in Bear Pond, doing sea plane excursions out in Long Lake, fishing, mountain boarding, laughing, learning or just straight up relaxing.”
The sale of the camp will help Patriots’ Path Council pay a portion of the $3.7 million the council is expected to contribute to the bankruptcy settlement, officials said. Discussions are still underway to decide how the council will pay the remainder of the money.
The Jersey Shore Council — which represents about 6,000 Scouts in Atlantic, Ocean and parts of Burlington and Cape May counties — is selling its four-acre campground off Whitesville Road in Toms River to the township.
The Toms River Township Council said in September it would use unspent bond funds to cover most of the $1.1 million it offered to buy the Boy Scout property, which other buyers had expressed interest in purchasing. The land is adjacent to another former waterfront campground jointly owned by the township and Ocean County.
Toms River officials said they want to keep the property open space and out of the hands of developers. The township plans to lease part of the property back to the Boy Scouts.
It is unclear if other Boy Scout sites in New Jersey or out-of-state campgrounds owned by local councils are up for sale or have already been sold.
In addition to Patriots’ Path and the Jersey Shore Council, New Jersey’s councils include the Northern New Jersey Council (Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties), the Garden State Council (Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Salem and parts of Atlantic County) and the Monmouth Council (Monmouth and parts of Middlesex County).
Two Pennsylvania councils also represent parts of New Jersey: the Minsi Trails Council includes Warren County and the Washington Crossing Council includes Hunterdon, Mercer and parts of Middlesex and Somerset counties.
According to the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy filing from September, the councils with ties to New Jersey will owe at least $18 million in settlements:
- Minsi Trails: $2.6 million
- Washington Crossing: $1.4 million
- Northern New Jersey: $3 million
- Patriots’ Path: $3.7 million
- Garden State: $3.9 million
- Monmouth: $3.1 million
- Jersey Shore: $386,000
The more than 80,000 sexual abuse victims who filed claims against the Boy Scouts are currently voting on whether to approve the bankruptcy plan. They have until Dec. 15 to return their ballots, then the bankruptcy plan will go back to the judge for approval.
If the plan is not approved, the Boy Scouts of America may have to renegotiate the deal with the alleged victims and other creditors.
The vote on the bankruptcy comes as New Jersey’s window for filing civil lawsuits against the Boy Scouts of America and other organizations for past child sexual abuse is closing.
Under a law passed in 2019, New Jersey waived the statute of limitations to allow those who say they were sexually assaulted as minors to file lawsuits until Nov. 30, 2021, no matter how long ago the abuse happened. As of last month, about 880 cases were filed, court officials said.
About 62% of the cases named a priest, cleric or religious institution, according to court data. Schools were named in 15.5% of the cases and lawsuits against the Boy Scouts accounted for 11% of the New Jersey cases.
Some advocates, attorneys and lawmakers have called on New Jersey to extend the Nov. 30 deadline, as other states have done, to give more alleged victims time to come forward.
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Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com.
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