In some respects, there are still some flood damage recovery projects to complete, but for the most part, the heavy lifting and major replacement work has been completed at the original Woodlawn Regional Park, said Greg Hoffort, who was re-elected as the regional park authority’s president for another season during their annual general meeting held last week.
“There was a decent turnout of about 25 to 30 people this year,” said Doug Blue, an RM of Estevan council representative.
“The building and grounds recoveries are nearing completion, but as we all know, we lost about 30 sites in 2011 with the flooding,” Blue added.
But the loss of those sites has since been mitigated and in addition, the authority accepted the opportunity to expand operations to include a second Woodlawn Regional Park at Boundary Dam about three years ago, which has offered travellers and campers additional spaces and programs to enjoy during the spring and summer months.
“The price for a season pass to our regional parks will remain the same, at $45. The daily camping rate at the parks will be $40 a day,” said Hoffort. “The seasonal rate, however, was hiked by $120 to a total of $2,400 for those wanting to secure a full service camp site from May through to Sept. 30. That includes all taxes and two park passes.”
The board of directors reported they have once again acquired the management services of Aaron-Lee Soparlo who will return in that role for the coming season and she will be responsible for hiring park employees.
Hoffort and Blue said there was some discussion held regarding the prospects of adding more camping spaces in a parcel of land that was left in their care following the disbanding of the local chuckwagon and chariot racing club in the original Woodlawn Park.
“We wanted to offer more than just camp spaces … perhaps more programming or activities there, and that would require some space,” said Hoffort.
“Did you know Estevan has a cricket team? They compete in an eight-team league and do quite well and they’d like to have some space to maybe build a cricket pitch or at least some practice facility,” said Blue, referring to alternative uses for some of that accessible space.
“It just shows us how the cultural diversity of this city is spreading,” added Hoffort.
There is also a desire to build an off-leash dog park, perhaps on the northeast side of the park space that is still available.
Hoffort said most of the provincial disaster relief funds have been used to repair and recover the buildings and infrastructure in the main camping area and the reshaping and reconfigurations have left it in even better condition than it was prior to the devastating summer of 2011.
This year we will be closer to wanting to maintain a status quo,” said Hoffort.
“Some tree planting still has to be done, and 50 new camp sites were added at Boundary Dam just recently. The PDAP funds came to almost $2 million and there is a little bit left yet for the additional trees and some riverbank cleanup work and a sewer service in the main park area that had to wait for the ground to settle before it could be installed. We had about eight feet of land fill in some areas so that had to be stabilized and settled before we could add services,” Hoffort added.
The RM of Estevan has once again agreed to maintain and surface the entrance roads to both parks on a 12-month cycle.
Hoffort said the parks are being budgeted for about $805,700 in expected revenues this season with accompanying expenses of just under $794,000.
A few seasonal campers attended the meeting, the two men said. Those park users and golf course members provided some useful feedback during the open discussion period.
The boat launch at the Boundary Dam site will be upgraded again with one old dock being replaced with a newer unit, with that work being carried out in concert with the Estevan Wildlife Federation that also maintains buildings and a presence at the Dam.
“We’re hoping to get up to $85,000 this year worth of seasonal park pass income and one-ninth of that goes to the provincial regional park program. Our park gets to keep the rest,” said Hoffort.
The authority will again co-operate with local organizers of the annual Beach Bash at Boundary Dam and will look at installing some additional shade structures on or near the beach as well as a speed bump or two to slow traffic down, especially in the camp site areas where children are often found playing and walking.
Park security will remain in the hands of management, and Hoffort said the RCMP has been fully co-operative in providing regular patrols and law enforcement when required. “We rely on them, and they’ve always responded,” Hoffort said.
Blue said he is being replaced on the authority’s board of directors by Del Block who will now by the RM of Estevan representative. Larry Preddy was elected vice-president of the executive council during the election process that was part of the agenda.
