Since the beginning of this year, the Bergen-based council has had Camp Glen Gray, one of the longest continuously operated Boy Scout camps in America, on the auction block, taking bids from a range of interested parties.

Offers have come from the local level all the way up to the national level, as the 800-acre tract is the largest area of privately owned open space in Bergen County. Though the council had indicated it would probably choose a buyer by the end of last month, it has instead put that decision off, possibly to the 15th of May, according to sources.

A last-minute counteroffer was made by the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit, to parry that of the No. 1 bid contender, an un-named religious group that hopes to purchase the camp for its youth programs. Members of the Trust would like to preserve the tract as open space for Bergen County. Initially they offered the Northern New Jersey Council $4 million, but were outbid by the religious group. In late April, the council postponed its decision on the final buyer to consider the Trust’s counterbid last week for an undisclosed amount.

Despite the national and private interests contending for Camp Glen Gray, the sale is, in significant part, a Montclair issue.

The camp is located in Bergen County but it was established by Essex Scout troops more than 80 years ago, and it is named for Scouting forefather and one-time Montclair resident Frank Fellows Gray.

When the Essex County Council merged with Bergen, Hudson and Passaic counties to form the Northern New Jersey Council in 1999, the Essex County Council lost authority over the camp.

Spokesperson Jon Brennan of the Northern New Jersey Council said that when the merger oc-curred, the combined council acquired 10 camps in three states. Several camps have become redundant. The council now has twice the number of camps it needs, Brennan indicated.

The council decided to sell the camp at the beginning of this year for reasons, as noted by Brennan, of its difficult accessibility for handicapped Scouts and its high maintenance.

Soon after the decision was made to sell Camp Glen Gray, local Scoutmasters and Scout supporters created Friends of Glen Gray, the aim of which is to raise enough money to buy the 200 acres of land upon which the camping facilities stand. The group is attempting to partner with the Trust for Public Land, which supporters hope will acquire the remaining 600 acres of open space.

“We have offered to supplement their initial offer. They have expressed interest,” said Bob Cunniff, a resident of Cedar Grove, and trustee of Friends of Glen Gray, “but we haven’t been able to put it into a concrete agreement.”

Cunniff said that the deal is being brokered through Bergen County: “I think all three parties see the value of the FOGG group being the camp’s steward.”

“We will continue to allow the Scouts to use the property at no cost to the council,” said Cunniff. If successful in its bid, Friends of Glen Gray would keep the camp available to the Boy Scouts and also to other groups. The fees charged would be banked in an endowment fund for Glen Gray’s upkeep.

“It is either the most or the second most utilized camp in the council in terms of boys’ nights,” said Cunniff. More than 5,000 people used Camp Glen Gray last year, he said, and it is filled almost to overflowing every weekend during the school year.

“The unequivocal goal is the maximum amount of money, maintaining open space,” stated Cary Edwards, president of the Northern Jersey Council’s executive board, in a recent article by The Rec-ord, a sibling newspaper to The Montclair Times.

In its written decision to sell the property, the council mentioned that the buyer must commit to keeping the land as open space. That condition has kept most private developers, some offering $7.5 million for the land, out of the final bidding.

“But we’re not going to sacrifice open space for dollars and we’re not going to sacrifice dollars for open space,” Edwards told The Record.

“It would be more helpful if there were more dialogue all around,” said John Hartinger of Friends of Glen Gray.

In the few times that Friends of Glen Gray has been allowed to enter negotiations on the fate of the camp, the representatives have spoken with a task force assigned to recommend a course of action to the council’s 80-member executive board. But Hartinger said he wants to go directly to the board to convince them to look beyond selling the tract as open space for the top dollar. He wants to show them that Camp Glen Gray is a major asset to the council’s programs and goals overall.