Camping will return to the Mount Baker RV Campground in Cranbrook.
The City has signed an agreement with Gavin Thomas, who will manage operate and maintain the Mount Baker RV Campground as a no-service campground, other than a wash building and sani-dump, with no individual camping pad water or sewer, however, power hookups are available at most sites.
Bookings will available starting on May 1, 2024.
“We were excited to hear that the City was giving the RV campground another chance and we appreciate the opportunity to play a role in its revival”, said Thomas. “The RV campground is a great amenity to the downtown area and a helpful resource to improve tourism. We are very much looking forward to this partnership with the City.”
Under the agreement, the City will be provided 10 per cent of the campground site rental revenue annually. The campground will have a restriction on the length of stay of seven (7) days, with no back-to-back bookings.
Short stays in this location may allow visitors to choose to stay inside Cranbrook and access downtown at minimum, to benefit small business and provide some tourism opportunities.
“On behalf of Council, I would like to thank Mr. Thomas for his proposal to open and operate the Mount Baker RV Campground,” said Mayor Wayne Price. “We would also like to thank members of the community for advocating to re-open the campground for short-term stays. I am confident that the campground will meet the needs of visitors to the City and provide a positive benefit to local business.”
The Mount Baker RV Campground has been closed since the end of the 2020 camping season, as the previous operator closed their business, while significant infrastructure repairs and replacement were required.
At the time, staff recommended a range of options, including a full closure or various financial commitments between $80,000 to $1.3 million that would provide varying levels of water, sewer, power services.
In contrast, the campground was only providing $30,000 annually in revenue back to the city as a full-service hookup campground, which did not justify the full rebuild of services.
While staff, mayor and council examined the options and financial impacts, the necessary improvements were not identified as a priority capital item project in Council’s strategic plan or budget, and the campground was fully closed heading into the 2021 summer camping season.
In July 2022, Council approved the subdivision of the Baker Park lands to create separate parcels, most notably the largest portion along 14th Avenue to formally become Baker Park as a dedicated park space (which it was not previously), removing the bottom portion of the RV Campground with Joseph Creek and washroom from the RV Campground to also become part of the expanded Baker Park.
Separate parcels were also created for both the Seniors Centre and the now smaller RV Campground area.
Earlier this year, the city was given direction by mayor and council to reopen the campground, after officials approved an expenditure of up to $20,000 to complete water system repairs at the site. Work is currently underway and is expected to be mostly complete by the end of this week.
That work was made possible after a nearby existing unused watermain stub was activated as part of road work done on 2nd St. S between 14th Ave and Victoria Ave. in late 2023.
For the cost of around $20,000, a water service line is currently being installed from that mainline stub through the campground to the wash building and the sani-dump, allowing those two parts of the former campground services to become operational again for a reasonably low cost.
This new opportunity for a low-cost way to restore water to the wash building and sani-dump could allow use of the site as a no-service campground on a year-to-year basis until a future use of the RV Campground is determined.