Wisconsin Campground Plans Stir Local Debate

City plans for a campground in picturesque Bradley Park in Tomahawk, Wis., have some residents in uproar, and some on the defensive.

Talk of a campground in part of Bradley Park began in the last few years. Today, it has some residents of Tomahawk divided, WJFW-TV, Rhinelander, reported.

“It’s come to our attention that this parks committee is proposing a seven-acre, KOA-style campground,” says Bill Paulson, from Tomahawk.

“None of that’s been passed, approved. It’s just an idea,” says Don Nelson, chairman of the Tomahawk Parks and Recreation Department.

The idea upsets those who think the park’s majestic white and red pine trees are too valuable to the park to part with.

“When you start destroying part of the park, these campers are going to start scavenging firewood, cutting trees down; there’s going to be garbage,” says Paulson.

Nelson says they don’t intend to make it a clear cut campground and would minimize tree removal. He also says they won’t force the idea on the city.

“We’re not going to move ahead on something the majority of the townspeople don’t want,” says Nelson.

There’s also differing opinion, as to what exactly the city wants.

“The people of this city tell me one thing, and only one thing: leave this park alone,” says Ray Zindrick, from Tomahawk.

“We had lots of interest in creating a campground in Bradley Park,” says Nelson.

But there is one thing they agree on.

“It’s a cathedral, it’s a chapel, it’s an experience that’s humbling because you know you’re walking through something…. this is what Tomahawk used to be like,” says Zindrick.

“Yeah, this is a crown jewel for Tomahawk. How many communities would die to have a park like this?” sasy Nelson.

It’s clear everyone involved, regardless of how they feel about a campground, is passionate about the park. They just have different aspects of it they’re committed to.

Planned RV Resort Riles Panama City Residents

The owner and operator of the Boardwalk Beach Resort in Panama City, Fla., is considering a luxury RV park for the area, but some neighbors aren’t happy with the plans.

WJHG TV reported that some of the condo owners at the Boardwalk Beach Resort are opposing Royal American’s request for some zoning changes to build the RV park. They say it could have a negative impact on their condo values.

When Boardwalk Beach Resort owners bought their condos years ago, they were expecting to be part of a huge beach front resort.

“We were told there would be four buildings,” condo owner John Bienkowski said. “Three additional ones besides the one we’re standing in front of today. Plus a number of amenities to make it like a park atmosphere, but with four buildings.”

Those plans were shelved when the real estate bubble burst several years ago. Instead, Royal American now wants to use some of its land to build an upscale RV park. Company officials say they want to attract tourists with luxury RVs to generate some revenue until it makes sense to build permanent structures on the land.

Royal American Marketing Director Amy Harris released a statement saying that their research shows that luxury RV owners is the demographic they want to attract to Panama City Beach. She also points out Okaloosa County recently approved a similar RV park for Okaloosa Island.

The company has requested a zoning change from Panama City Beach.

“It seems like we’ve been getting more, as this request is, is going from a district that allows some commercial use to an RV park. And it seems like RV parks are the land use of the day lately,” Panama City Beach Director of Planning and Building Mel Leonard said.

But some Boardwalk residents and their neighbors aren’t thrilled with the new trend.

“We just didn’t see the new plans being anything that would enhance the area. We thought that we would take a greater hit than a lot of people have already economically, because we don’t see it doing anything to enhance the value of our individual units or the property,” Bienkowski added.

The zoning change request was scheduled to go before the Panama City Beach planning board February 13th. But late Wednesday afternoon Royal American officials pulled it from the agenda to give more time to explain their plans to the owners.

 

 

 

Woodall’s ’12 Campground Directory Released

Woodall’s Publications has released its 2012 Woodall’s North American Campground Directory. According to a press release, the 2012 directory contains information for more than 8,000 privately owned and 6,000 public parks across North America.

The directory features 310,003 changes and updates from the 2011 edition, including over 14,000 detailed listings of campgrounds, RV dealers and service centers and attractions, GPS coordinates, physical addresses and detailed campground information. It also features full-color state and provincial maps, at-a-glance charts showing parks that welcome big rigs, have internet access (including Wi-Fi), welcome pets, and parks and campgrounds that are considered “green-friendly,” based upon the criteria of the National Association of Campgrounds and RV Parks (ARVC) in conjunction with “Leave No Trace.”

Included in the 2012 edition is exclusive new editorial on “One Tank Trips,” which guides readers to amazing trips using only a tank of gas. Also new is the use of QR codes allowing RVers and campers to connect with the campgrounds, RV parks and resorts found in the directory. Located throughout the directory, these QR codes can be scanned by smart phones and will connect users to exclusive content.

Woodall’s also redesigned its Travel Section for 2012, and filled it with tons of tips and recommendations about each local cities and attractions within each specific state. Another added benefit to the directory are Camping World coupons, placed within its pages, which are good at any Camping World SuperCenter nationwide, providing savings to Woodall’s readers.

In conjunction with the release of the new 2012 directory, Woodall’s Publications is also releasing its list of top-rated privately owned RV parks and campgrounds in North America through its 5W/5W rating system. Of the 8,000 privately-owned parks listed in its 2012 North American Campground Directory, 363 parks earned the highest and most coveted designation in the Woodall’s rating system.

“Privately owned campgrounds and RV parks covet the 5W Woodall’s rating, valuing it as the industry’s long running standard and most respected rating system,” said Ann Emerson, vice president and publisher. “We are very proud of the 363 campgrounds that have achieved a 5W rating for 2012.”

Sun Communities Issuing Public Stock Offering

Sun Communities Inc. announced Tuesday (Jan. 10) that it has priced an underwritten registered public offering of 4 million shares of its common stock at $35.50 per share. The sale will yield $142 million at the stated price.

As part of the offering, the company granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 600,000 shares of its common stock. The offering is expected to close on Jan. 17, subject to customary closing conditions, Thomson Reuters reported.

The company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to fund a portion of the purchase price of three recreational vehicle communities located in Florida that it agreed to acquire, as previously disclosed, and to repay outstanding debt. The company expects to use any remaining net proceeds of the offering to fund possible future acquisitions of properties and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Sun Communities Inc. is a real estate investment trust based in Southfield, Mich., that owns and operates RV parks and mobile home communities.

 

Texas Shale Industry Sparks up RV Park Boom

In his younger years, Bruce Sugarek was a welder in the oil fields in South Texas. At 82, he is now retired – well sort of, the Bee County Bee-Picayune reported.

“I am more tired than retired,” he said chuckling.

He is among the numerous other residents now providing housing for the workers of the Eagle Ford Shale industry. Throughout this area, small RV parks have popped up in once vacant lots.

In Saturday’s Bee-Picayune, five companies listed RV parks with open spots in the area. County Judge David Silva said he has seen these parks sprouting up throughout the county.

“You can’t drive between Beeville and anywhere that you won’t see RV parks and signs,” Silva said. “Some people have them next to their houses and some of them don’t. Everybody seems to be getting in on the action.”

Ron Fritz, with the county’s community affairs department, said that since January, 14 new RV parks have been built. This is up from, well, zero during the past few years.

“This is something new to Bee County,” Fritz said. “These things are popping up like mushrooms because of the people working in the Eagle Ford Shale kingdom.”

The county first began seeing the influx of people at the first of the year when the Eagle Ford drilling kicked into gear.

“The whole problem was the lack of housing in our area,” Fritz said. “Guys were staying all over and driving over here to work in the field.”

For some, the opportunity to cash in on the need for housing was too tempting to pass up. Bruce Munoz opened his RV park off U.S. Highway 59 only a few months ago and it’s already full.

“I have people still calling me,” he said. “I don’t have any more spaces open.”

That could change though.

“That is why I am thinking about in the future making it bigger,” he said. “But that is in the future.”

All of his residents are oil field workers but he hopes that when the boom subsides, he will be able to continue operating the park — just with a different clientele.

Flooded S.D. RV Park Sees Signs of Recovery

For 14 weeks, Doug and Linda Larson waited.

They, along with many others, piled sandbags along the Missouri River shoreline, according to a report by the Yankton (S.D.) Press and Dakotan. They watched the water rise as Gavins Point Dam releases were increased to 160,000 cubic feet per second (CFS). Finally, they held their breath and said prayers as the floodwaters lapped at the property just below the mobile home they bought after evacuating their residence closer to the shore.

“That was the meanest looking river I’ve ever seen,” Doug said. “It moved so fast that it was scary, and you didn’t want to get near it.”

Now, the owners of Larson’s Landing RV Park west of Yankton are beginning to clean up the aftermath of the summer flood since the flows from Gavins Point are at a much more normal 40,000 CFS.

“For 14 weeks we sat here not knowing if we had anything,” Linda said. “Then it started going down and we’d say, ‘Oh, that’s still there, and this is here.’ It gave us some light. But 14 weeks of not knowing what’s happening is way too long.”

The barricade of sandbags was eventually overcome by water, and the earth behind it was left pockmarked. Most of those holes have since been filled in with sand. A pile of trees, mobile home decks and sandbag material awaits disposal. Tens of thousands of sandbags still line the shore, despite volunteer efforts to get rid of them.

“Clean-up has been slow, but it’s coming along,” Doug said. “Several retired campers (who live in the park) are working every day. I can’t believe how much that helps, and I’m really grateful for it.”

The Larsons are in the process of receiving a loan from the Small Business Administration to get things up and running by next summer.

“It’s not quite what we were looking for, but it sure as heck is a lot better than nothing,” Doug said. “We’re glad we got it, and we’ll work with it.”

Many changes are in store for the property, he stated. Eighteen mobile home pads near the shore that once hosted long-term residents will not be replaced.

“That’s one of the things that really hurt — having to move these people out who had homes here for 18 years,” Doug said. “That really gave me some lumps in my throat.”

Those permanent pads will become camping spots instead.

“We’ll change this over to a summer-type operation rather than year-round,” Doug said.

Another change will involve reconfiguration of the marina area. Also, much of the beach that was once enjoyed by residents has been washed away.

“Before people could go wade in the water,” Doug said. “They won’t be able to do that anymore.”

One of the biggest surprises for the Larsons was the number of trees downed by beavers.

“It was like a smorgasbord,” Linda said. “They’d eat one off until it tipped over and then move on to the next one.”

They hope that part of the park will be restored by Memorial Day.

“We’ll have all the existing RV pads back in operation,” Doug said. “But we’re still out of all this area that had mobile homes. That will be a year-long project to redo.”

Linda added, “It’s exciting to see things coming together. You always have to look forward. That’s what we’re doing.”

 

 

 

Yuma’s RV Parks Prepare for Snowbird Return

RV parks in Yuma, Ariz., are gearing up for the season, cleaning out the pool and getting ready for the thousands of winter visitors expected to start arriving this month.

An estimated 84,940 winter visitors made the trek to Yuma last year, about 1,000 more than the previous season and not far from the record 85,950 in 2007-08, the Yuma Sun reported.

While many own their homes or choose hotels, thousands stay in Yuma’s nearly 100 RV parks and resorts, which offer well over 23,000 rental spaces.

An informal survey of parks indicates that the number of winter visitors will stay on track this year and park managers are predicting a good season, if not better than last year. For example:

• Friendly Acres RV Park in Yuma had only 20 vacancies left in the 450-space park this week. “We’re looking good. We’re a family-owned park and a lot of people come back year after year,” said Cynthia Crisp, office assistant.

• Pioneer RV Park in Wellton reported that all but three of its 326 spaces had already been reserved, with a few spaces left open for “in-and-out” visitors.

• West Sands RV Park in Yuma is expecting to be full again this year, with its 156 spaces already reserved.

• Sunset Palm RV Park in Yuma also reported that the park was almost full with only a few of its 117 spaces left.

This is all good news for Yuma’s economy as winter visitors shop local stores and patronize restaurants as well as play golf, enjoy the city’s amenities and support community events.

Winter visitors also regularly volunteer their time at charitable and nonprofit organizations, schools and the hospital.

However, Yuma Stats is predicting “a record year for attendance but with proclivity toward less per-capita spending.”

“I suppose that’s better than no visitors so let’s hope more in general, spending a little less each, is enough to bring revenues up above past records,” said Paul Shedal, a professional statistical analyst and owner of Yuma Stats.

The firm’s annual September survey of park managers produced “mixed results.”

“Comments from 20 park managers show reservations about average but not below past year levels at this point. No problem,” Shedal said.

“What is troubling are several reports of fewer inquiries. These are the folks who haven’t committed to a lease or made a reservation.”

Shedal also noted a new generation of visitors last year. He described them as “bargain-minded but willing to spend for good value.”

“Looking at multiple trends, visitor spending during early (last) season was subdued but finally came on par starting in February.”

In the meantime, the Yuma Visitors Bureau is starting to the see the “first wave” of winter visitors, many of whom regularly make reservations at RV parks for the next year before they leave in the spring.

“Every day we’re seeing a steady increase in visitors coming in. We expect a larger flood in late October,” said A.J. Mosqueda, manager of the Visitor Information Center operated by the bureau.

“We usually see the first wave in October as the weather here cools off and the weather back home gets cold. Then we see another bump after Thanksgiving and another after Christmas. People want to spend the holidays with their families, and it seems more Christmassy with snow than palm trees,” said Ann Walker, the bureau’s media relations specialist.

The number of winter visitors usually peaks in January and February, she added.

 

Casino Looks to Draw RVers with 49-Space Park

The Ho-chunk Casino’s new luxury recreational vehicle park in central Wisconsin is just one part of greater expansion plans that includes a water park and an addition to the casino/convention center, according to casino officials.

The Baraboo News Republic reported that the RV park on the north side of the casino property officially was unveiled to the public Saturday (Oct. 1). The Ho-Chunk Hoiusa Cinuk RV Park features space for 49 RVs, including 21 spaces designed for year-round use. Amenities include wireless Internet access, fire pits and picnic tables, sewer, water and 24-hour security patrols.

Casino Executive Manager Jones Funmaker said the casino always has had some visitors who arrived in their vacation home and parked in the casino’s lot. The new RV park is simply a way to accommodate a new group of customers and attract more of them.

“It seemed to make business sense, ‘hey, can we charge them to park?’” he said.

Funmaker said the casino plans to add much more to the casino/convention center property. Plans include a water park, expansion of the hotel and expansion of the casino.

“We have all these things on the drawing board, but we went with the water park first because that is the draw, then we’ll build the hotel to house them,” he said. “Then the other things will fall in place.”

 

Snowbirds Ready for Annual Trek Down South

Milt and Kay Olson spend every Christmas in north central Wisconsin with their children and grandchildren, enjoying a meal together, sharing stories of Christmases past and exchanging gifts, according to a report in the Wassau Daily Herald. Then they take down the Christmas tree, load up the fifth-wheel trailer and head south to escape the below-zero temperatures and snow.

The Olsons, who live in the town of Weston, are some of the more than one million “snowbirds” in the U.S. and Canada who flee winters in colder climes for Florida, Arizona, Gulf Shores, Ala., and other refuges. Snowbirds flee the frozen north to live in retirement communities, RV parks and condominiums where they walk the beaches, play golf and participate in other social activities while Wisconsin residents count the days until summer.

The Olsons stay in Wisconsin longer than most snowbirds, who typically are getting ready to hit the road right about now — as leaves turn and temperatures drop near freezing at night. The recession, high gasoline prices and a struggling housing market haven’t slowed the migration.

Milt and Kay Olson, for example, retired in the early 2000s from jobs at Northcentral Technical College. They decided it was time to go someplace warm, but they weren’t content on picking just one place. They bought a fifth-wheel trailer and a pickup and alternate among Arizona, Texas and Florida, staying at RV parks for three months and seeing sights throughout the area.

“In the grand scheme of things, the price of fuel is the biggest factor,” Milt Olson, 65, said. “It adds a couple hundred dollars, but you don’t decide to stay home for that.”

Tracking the number of snowbirds is difficult because studies are inconsistent and dated. A University of Arizona State study found that more than 300,000 winter residents were living in Arizona at the height of the 2002-03 winter season. A University of Florida study showed that 818,000 people spent the winter of 2005 in that state.

Stefan Rayer, a researcher for the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at UF who conducted the 2005 study, said the economic downturn and high unemployment likely have caused that number to drop slightly in recent years.

To read the entire story click here.

 

 

What’s an RV? Wash. County to Issue New Ruling

What’s the difference between a recreational vehicle and permanent residence? Residents of the Vista del Lago RV Park in Manson, Wash., are awaiting the answer to that question with a little trepidation these days.

The Wenatchee World reported that officers of the Vista del Lago Homeowners Association recently walked through the 80-lot park wondering what a Chelan County code enforcer would find. A Chelan County hearings examiner recently ruled that permanent homes are not allowed in a park approved for RVs.

“We’re hoping no homes will have to be moved, but we’re in limbo right now waiting for the county to come down,” said Dave Sneesby, president of the group.

Chelan County commissioners have been after residents of the RV park for more than a decade to comply with dozens of building code infractions as structures have become increasingly permanent-looking. Commissioners allowed after-the-fact permits to be paid in previous inspections of the park. But a recent ruling by Chelan County Hearing Examiner Andrew Kottkamp came down harder, saying that residences defined as permanent rather than temporary would have to be removed. The homeowners association did not appeal the ruling.

Most residents do come and go, but many of the homes on the lots are hardly mobile. The lots were originally put up for lease, but were later put up for sale. All are now privately owned. The original developer, Eastland Corp., owned by Dave and Kathleen Jewell, is no longer involved.

“Everyone here did what they did in good faith according to the rules at the time,” said Bev Eickhoff, a retired teacher and the association’s secretary.

Brian Webber, another retired teacher from Everett, bought the trailer on lot 33 just last year. He thinks the trailer will conform to code, but it might have to be moved, along with its massive deck, because it was placed too close to the next lot.

“Obviously, you don’t buy a place thinking you’re going to have to move your whole home,” he said.

The Wenatchee World reported that Chelan County Commissioner Doug England said inspectors have already drawn up a rough map of the park but will next go through and inspect it lot by lot to determine what changes have to be made. That should happen soon, he said. With paved roads, concrete driveways and attractive landscaping, Vista del Lago could be a model of recreational home living. The park has a broad mix of Airstreams, fifth-wheel trailers, motorhomes and park model trailers.

Brandon King, the homeowners association’s vice president, parked his 40-foot Keystone trailer with twin tip-outs there a couple years ago and comes to Manson every chance he can. The Everett man removed the wheels and enclosed the bottom of the trailer with cement blocks last year as a cosmetic improvement.

“I don’t think the county wants to get rid of anything. We just have to give them time to work things out,” said King.

“Our goal is to preserve what we have here now and move forward,” Sneesby added.

That may not be possible for all.

Many of the 80 lots are filled with abodes that look much less like trailers. Some are double-wide mobile homes placed on concrete footings. Many have large decks and carports that reach out to the edges of the 40-by-60-foot lots. Others have tool sheds, closed-in porches and add-on rooms. Sneesby’s trailer and several others are called park models, with dimensions and mobility designed to conform with RV park regulations, but looking much like a shingled, two-story house with dormers.

King, Sneesby and Eickhoff all agreed they have a good thing going at the park. The affordable lots offer a view of Lake Chelan, next to a city park and are within walking distance of downtown Manson. No one wants to move, Sneesby said, but the county will have the final say.

“It’s a waiting game now,” he said. “It’s in their hands.”

 

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