The Long Saga of the Sulamita Recreation Center
Application Denied on 6/11/2026
The lengthy review process for the Sulamita Recreation Center application illustrates how state and county land use regulations do serve to protect our natural resources, farm and forest activities, wildlife habitat, and public health and safety.
In 2022 the Slavic Evangelical Church purchased a 100-acre property along Gold Creek in Polk County for use as a youth camp. The property had been clear-cut and replanted with seedlings. The church started moving ground, building roads and campsites with no permits. After neighboring property owners contacted Polk County, Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon State Lands, Sulamita received stop orders to halt work until required permits were obtained. Sulamita applied three times for a conditional use permit to establish a youth camp in a forested region. The first two applications were withdrawn or deemed void. The third application was set for a public hearing before the county hearings officer on May 5, 2026.
The third application requested approval for operation of a 350-participant youth camp from May through September and for two weeks during the spring. The camp included a meeting hall, lodge, kitchen/cafeteria, three restrooms, 30 yurts and 20 cabins. The site plan showed the camp sprawled across most of the 100-acre property. The only mention of reforestation of the property was a planting of seedlings in a portion of the 80 ft. buffer around the perimeter.
The site plan for the proposed Sulamita Recreation Center.
The county staff report recommended denial because the application met some, but not all of the criteria for the conditional use permit. AKS Engineering and Forestry represented Sulamita and supported the application; several church members also spoke in favor of the application and the need of their church to provide outdoor activity for their youth members. Many of the surrounding property owners and Friends of Polk County attended the hearing and spoke in opposition to the application.
After review of all the material in the record, the hearings officer also recommended denial of the application. This denial was based on possible problems with:
the proposed septic field,
inadequate water supply,
lack of a forested setting,
inadequate visual and audio buffers,
disruption of elk habitat and
adverse impacts to nearby farm operations.
Although a youth camp is a permitted use in forested areas as a conditional use, the permit is subject to certain criteria. The Sulamita Recreation Center could have existed on a different property or as a much smaller facility, but as envisioned by the Slavic Evangelical Church was not deemed appropriate at the Gold Creek site.
Click this link to view the PDF of the full hearing officer’s decision.
