Sunsport Gardens in Loxahatchee Groves could be stripped of some home sites.
The nudist camp, well known in naturist circles nationwide, has been humming along with the same number of tent and trailer pads for at least nine years — well before Loxahatchee Groves incorporated in 2006, reports The Palm Beach Post.
The count stands at 133, according to the resort.
But a 1994 Palm Beach County resolution, which has been governing Sunsport Gardens while the town adopts its own land-use and zoning laws, calls for only 48 trailer sites.
Moreover, Loxahatchee Groves expects to establish a density of one home per 5 acres once its land-use blueprint is finalized, perhaps by early next year. That could mean only eight home sites for Sunsport Gardens, which sits on 40 acres, said Vice Mayor, Dennis Lipp.
Lipp discovered the discrepancy with the county code.
“Something has to be done,” he said. “I’m just laying out the problems.”
Mayor Dave Browning said he’s not inclined to shake things up at the camp, which has been open since 1965.
“My thought is we will probably allow them to keep the intensity they have now,” Browning said. “We really don’t want to put businesses out of business.”
The council likely will discuss the issue at its Dec. 7 meeting.
Sunsport Gardens owner Morley Schloss, who bought the resort in 2001, said he’s not fretting about the issue.
“We have no expansion plans, and we haven’t expanded since 2001,” he said. “The county knows what we’ve been doing. The county has never come down on us.”
It’s unclear how Sunsport Gardens grew beyond the 48 permissible recreational vehicle sites while under the county’s rules.
But that matters less than how the town decides to handle the property now that it has jurisdiction over it, county attorney Bob Banks said.
“Loxahatchee Groves can choose to do what it wants,” Banks said. “They can make their own call now.”
Photo: Laura Wiist, who moved from Texas, finds living at Sunsport Gardens is a great antidote to a generally uptight world. “I feel so safe here,” she said. “I can ride my bicycle at two in the morning and I don’t have to worry.” (Brandon Kruse/The Palm Beach Post)
