The camp is set to open next summer.
REPUBLIC TOWNSHIP -- After years of planning, the first of three phases of construction for the new Chief Lake Wilderness Youth Camp has been completed.
The camp, you may recall, was controversial when it was seeking conditional use permits a few years ago. Area residents expressed concern at a series of public meetings over what kind of kids would be coming to the camp.
"There was confusion that it might be an at risk camp which it was not, this is for all youth, we're not a penal type of camp," says camp coordinator Steve Nesbitt.
Chief Lake neighbors declined an on camera interview, but told Upper Michigan's Source they have a wait and see attitude towards the new camp.
The land that used to be the spot of a thriving resort now has eleven cabins. The one point two million dollar project was funded almost entirely by donations and took about ten months to build.
Nesbitt says the camp will expose kids to the great outdoors.
"We have various programs ranging from archery, boating, wildlife survival, forest stewardship, animal husbandry, equestrian, we have some winter programs," says Nesbitt.
The next phase will be to finish the floors, ceilings, and walls of the cabins and the final phase will be to furnish them. The camp is set to open by the summer of 2012.
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