Drama Camp: Boca-Based Developer Plays Villain in Suburban Philly

By Thomas Francis Mon., Aug. 10 2009 at 11:53 AM

Categories: Business, Palm Beach

Flickr: iso30

Which of you campers is brave enough to visit the warehouse?

A plucky group of summer camp kids, their counselors, and homeowners have rallied against a warehouse development in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, by Margolis Enterprises, a developer based in Boca Raton. The Burlington County Times reports that our locals are getting a lesson in child activism:

"My daughter told me I should come over and sign the petition, and before doing that I thought I should educate myself a little bit. And in reading it, I can see basically that it would kill the whole scenery and the background," said Anselmo Rivera of Hainesport, whose two children, 11 and 8, have attended the camp for three years.

Opponents to the project have launched their own website, where Margolis is cast as a greedy, politician-greasing corporate monster:

It has patiently owned the adjacent properties for many years, waiting for the winds of change to come. It has taken an economic recession to cause a "perfect storm" of local politicians and state regulators being willing to work with them, quickly cutting through (Department of Environmental Protection) red tape, and consulting with the newly formed Governor's Office of Economic Growth.

Outrageous! That doesn't sound like the behavior befitting Boca Raton business owners' sterling reputation around the globe. What's more, the organizer of that website told the paper that Margolis is trying to build despite six of seven DEP permits that are for residential development -- not commercial development that goes with warehouses.

Well, duh! Why pay off the politicians if you've already got the proper permits!

And so what if the project calls for 40-foot warehouses on the three sides of the camp? When it comes to telling ghost stories around a campfire, warehouses make a much spookier backdrop than the woods, as any kid from Detroit will tell you.