Bikers looking for a place to camp out during major Daytona Beach events like Bike Week, may soon have space for hundreds more of their friends.
The owner of the Cacklebery Campground, home of “slime wrestling,” at 560 Tomoka Farms Road wants to expand his operation from 400 campsites to 1,000. But he needs the property to be rezoned by the Volusia County government. The item will go to the county’s Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission on Thursday.
The campsite provides space for RV and tent campers. But the campgrounds are only allowed to be active around the time of Speedweeks, the Coke Zero Sugar 400, Bike Week, and Biketoberfest, according to county documents.
The campground is across the street from Sopotnick’s Cabbage Patch, a separate business.
Camping parties for Bike Week this year featured music, food, liquor, and special events ― including a “Ladies Pole Dancing Contest,” a “Daisey Duke Contest” and a “Wet T-shirt Contest.”
“We do slime wrestling. … We order buckets of slime,” said Ronnie Williams Jr., owner of the campground.
But it’s not the slime that has the county concerned. County staff advised the planning board to send a recommendation of denial of the expansion plans to the county council, which will have the final say.
Williams is asking to rezone about 65 acres that would allow him to expand from 400 to 1,000 campsites ― with a maximum of 396 RV hook-up sites and 604 tent campsites.
The changes he’s asking for would allow him to keep temporary buildings and vehicles on site outside of event times. Also, he is operating under a special exception that expires Oct. 1, 2028, and the changes would allow him to have camping around event times indefinitely.
The county’s concerns include that the rezoning would change the property’s focus from mostly agricultural to primarily commercial.
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“This proposed change would make the subject site the largest temporary campsite in Volusia County,” according to the backup materials.
Williams disagreed that the main purpose of the land would change.
“It’s going to be agricultural still 11 months out of the year,” he said.
When it’s not used for camping, the Cacklebery Campground is a grazing space for milk and beef cows, Williams said. The campground’s name and the large rooster statue on the land are rooted in the land’s agricultural background ― cacklebery is a slang term for an egg.
“It was an egg farm at one time,” Williams said.