Court: Boy Scout council has right to sell camp

BOISE, Idaho -- A Boy Scout group has the authority to sell or trade its camp on Lake Coeur d'Alene, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The justices upheld a lower-court decision in the case brought in September 2011 against the Inland Northwest Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Opponents contested an Arizona developer's offer to trade the 420-acre Camp Easton for 270 acres elsewhere on the lake along with a new camp and a $2.5 million endowment. Discovery Land Co. wanted to build luxury condominiums on the current campsite.

Talks about the proposed swap ended in September 2012, but a group called Camp Easton Forever sought a final ruling on whether the Boy Scout council had the right to trade the land.

Opponents argued that 132 acres of the land was donated to the Scouts by F.W. Fitze in 1929 with the condition that it would always be used as a Scout camp. They offered minutes of a meeting between Fitze and a scouting group as evidence.

The council's attorneys argued the actual deed contained no such restrictions. In May 2012, District Court Judge John Luster granted a summary judgment in favor of the council.

After talks about the swap ended, the group began raising money to make improvements to Camp Easton.