BENNINGTON — After weeks of back-and-forth, the town of Bennington has reached an agreement with the summer camp operating on Southern Vermont College’s campus, now known as Camp Southern Vermont LLC, that may prevent further legal action.
The agreement states that the camp will dismantle its large white tent, from which voice projections and music at camp gatherings have originated. Instead, the camp will hold assemblies for its several hundred campers inside the former college’s gymnasium.
Camp director Rabbi Moshe Perlstein and camp staff have until July 29 to implement the required changes. If they succeed, the town will cancel a contempt hearing, formerly scheduled for this Thursday. The town will also withdraw its pending motion for injunctive relief and a related hearing, which was scheduled for July 30.
Town officials and the Bennington Police Department have received a host of complaints from Bennington residents since campers arrived on July 5.
On behalf of the town, attorney Merrill Bent, with Woolmington, Campbell, Bent & Stasny, requested a temporary restraining order against the camp on July 15 that prohibited noise after 9 p.m.
By the morning of July 17, police had received 14 additional noise complaints from area residents, causing the town to subsequently request the contempt hearing.
While Perlstein maintains that camp noise has remained within the town’s mandated decibel levels, he said he was moved to make the agreement when he spoke directly to a resident who was affected by the noise.
Perlstein said he’s seen misinformation spread about the camp, starting with accusations that the campers were not vaccinated, that he had lied about the number of campers present, and that campers had not been tested for Covid-19.
“There was tremendous misunderstanding in the last two weeks,” he said.
After seeing several police reports that stated some of the noise was within ordinance levels, Perlstein said he questioned whether there was a problem.
He changed his mind after speaking with a resident, he said, and scheduled a meeting with Bennington town manager Stu Hurd, assistant town manager Dan Monks and community development director Shannon Barsotti. The agreement came together the day before the scheduled contempt hearing and was also driven by negotiations between attorneys representing both sides.
Bent, the town’s attorney, said Perlstein should have made more of an effort to eliminate problematic noise when the complaints were first made, and said Perlstein has already had several conversations with town officials.
“He committed to an 8 p.m. shutoff weeks ago,” she said. “Given that conversation, I’m not sure why it took a conversation with a different resident to carry that home.”
Barsotti said she hoped a public statement made by the town would halt false rumors.
She said she understands why local residents have been concerned about Covid-19 and noise. She said tensions are high because of the pandemic, and residents are frustrated that an out-of-state camp could operate while local camps have shut down.
“It all creates a unique scenario that was hard for people to wrap their heads around, like, how can that many kids be here?” she said. “But there really is space for that many kids to spread out, and they’re following what the state wants them to do, so for our purposes as the town, it checks out.”
Given the campus’ perch above the town and the tent’s lack of insulation, Perlstein suggested removing the tent, even though he sees the forthcoming move to the gymnasium as a loss.
“I think, what he hadn’t thought about was how the sound would carry, and where the tent was located,” Barsotti said. “Really what he came to was that there was just no way to do it inside of the tent.”
The agreement to move the large camp gatherings indoors comes as many Vermont institutions have moved their operations outdoors under advised precautions that outdoor activities are less likely to spread Covid-19.
Perlstein said that because all of the campers have been tested and are quarantining together, he isn’t worried about the virus spreading. He also said none of the campers have left campus.
“My campers don’t have more of a right to be happy than the people in Bennington,” he said. “Working together means giving and taking. I believe that the town of Bennington is giving me a chance to be understood.”
Both Barsotti and Perlstein are happy to have the issue resolved.
“The noise issue was something that needed to be addressed,” Barsotti said, “and we’re glad to be able to find a compromise.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Bennington reaches agreement with summer camp.