Big box plan threatens Camp Lion

The summer children’s program at Camp Lion is feeling the heat from a plan to expand the nearby Walmart and construct a Lowe’s Home Improvement Center.The controversial commercial development on Highland Avenue in Salem requires purchase of about half the acreage owned by the Lynn Lions Club, a transaction that would force the camp to relocate.Camp Lion, which is leased by the North Shore council of Camp Fire USA, spans the Lynn-Salem boundary line.”Our program is in jeopardy,” said Marlys Russell, the local Camp Fire director. “We are not related to Camp Lion, but as a tenant we pay a small rent. This program has been running for nearly 50 years.”The camp opened earlier this week for the summer and serves about 200 children a day – 60 percent from Lynn and the remainder from surrounding communities. In addition to daily outdoor activities between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., it provides early-and-late childcare services for working parents and off-site programs based in Lynn and Salem public schools.Russell said news stories about the shopping center development have led people to believe Camp Lion will be moved to a different site on the property and rebuilt at no cost. “That’s just not the case,” she said. “There has been a lot of misinformation out there. People think we are having a new building built for us and that we’re all set. The Lions have done a lot for us over the years, but we’re not all set. If this project goes through, we will no longer be here.”According to Russell, Camp Lion has been promised land toward the rear of the property, a new roadway and site-preparation work, including a concrete pad on which to build. “Other than that, the developers would not be paying for anything. We have no money. So we won’t be able to put up a new building, athletic fields and an in-ground swimming pool, the things we now have,” Russell said. “We can try to raise funds, but it could cost millions and in the mean time we will be displaced.”A prepared statement released Friday by the North Shore Camp Fire council’s board of directors supported some of Russell’s assertions. It read, in part, “The Lynn Lions helped provide the pavilion and office for Camp Fire’s use in the 1960s and these facilities now provide an outdoor day camp experience to more than 400 children each year, as well as employment to more than 50 youths and young adults.”The camp program offers children hours of summer fun, new friendships, learning and skill building activities run by local young people as counselors and role models. Children ages five through 13 are placed, according to age level, in groups with names like Friendship Valley, Whispering Woods or Green Glen where they enjoy swimming, music, drama, sports and games, nature, hiking, cooking and arts and crafts.”Camp fees are based on a sliding scale, with extended hours for working parents from 6:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. including breakfast and lunch.The board of director’s statement also emphasized that the North Shore Camp Fire council is not a party to the Lowes/Walmart/Meineke development. “We are a separate and distinct organization and are tenants at will of Camp Lion, a subsidiary of the Lynn Lions Club. The board of directors of Camp Lion has assured Camp Fire that upon completion of this project, Camp Fire will receive, as part of the Lions agreement with Kennedy Development, use of a parcel of land with access and in a build-able condition, upon which we will be able to erect a new Camp Waluta.”Margaret LaMothe, president of the Camp Fire North Shore council’s board of directors, said Camp Fire is faced with two major challenges. “First, we must secure a temporary location for Camp Fire camp during the planned construction and we believe that will happen with the support of the Lions Club and others. Second, we must raise enough money to build a year-round facility, including a pool, which will serve the children of the North Shore for another 40 years.”Camp Fire has funded its youth-oriented prog