The KOA's Fox Farm Road site. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

WILMINGTON — Kampgrounds of America, Inc. — or KOA — has gotten the Adirondack Park Agency’s stamp of approval for a new 80-tent “glamping” site at the former KOA campground on Fox Farm Road in the town of Wilmington.

The project still needs approval from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the state Department of Health and the town of Wilmington’s Zoning and Planning board, according to town of Wilmington Code Enforcement Officer Doug Nemec. Nemec said that the town’s zoning and planning board will only sign off on the project once it’s been approved by all three state entities.

According to site plans submitted to the APA, the 65-acre Fox Farm Road site could be filled with 80 platform-style “glamping” tents, a lodge and restaurant building, a pavilion and a pool with a cabana building, a general manager’s house, and a dormitory-style building with enough rooms for up to 12 future employees if the project gets total approval.

The project also proposes to construct a dog park, a “wellness tent,” grill stations, a maintenance building and parking areas with a total of 161 spaces. The old campground backs up to the West Branch of the AuSable River, and the property contains around 1.2 acres of wetlands on the northernmost edge of the property, according to site plans.

The Fox Farm property was run as a camping ground from 1973 to 2022, according to APA documents obtained by the Enterprise. The 1973 campground included 160 campsites, a swimming pool, a manager’s house, and a building used as the camp office and store, according to the documents. As of 2022, the campground included 117 recreational vehicle campsites, 88 tent campsites and 55 tourist accommodation units, but all of the structures associated with the campground were removed last year. Now, the site sits vacant.

The Fox Farm Road site is just one campsite in Wilmington that KOA is looking to operate. The Lake Placid/Whiteface Mountain KOA Holiday on state Route 86 is currently open. KOA also wants to revamp the former North Pole campground down the road on state Route 86, across from the Wolf Jaw Lodge.