BLOOMING GROVE— In early March a local resident flagged down County Executive Steven Neuhaus near the former Camp La Guardia. “Thank God you guys are doing something with this place,” he said to the county exec. “It’s embarrassing when people ask, ‘What is it? A haunted campus up on the hill?’”
The county is giving Camp La Guardia, the former homeless shelter that straddles the towns of Chester and Blooming Grove, a trim and a shave.
Department of Public Works crews are making the buildings presentable for real estate brokers to show the site to potential commercial owners. Crews have begun to clean up the property this month, cutting away overgrown brush, cleaning the interior, and securing the buildings.
Ratable Property
“There are no taxes on this property right now that’s being generated to those two communities, or the school district, or the county,” Neuhaus said. He said it’s time to have the 258-acre property be ratable—making it liable for locally assessed property taxes—for the towns.
The property has been empty and unused less than ten years and now looks like the set for a zombie movie. Most windows have been broken. Clusters of saplings have sprouted in open areas. Tall weeds grow where grass once did.
Toward a lower end of the property stands a recreation building and the pump station. A neglected basketball court was overgrown with weeds. A large cement wall was covered with graffiti.
Graffiti fills many walls, despite the solid infrastructure of the buildings. Neglect shows in peeling paint and garbage strewn around in most buildings.
