ATHABASCA — A request to rezone a piece of land to allow for the development of a campground west of Wandering River has some Athabasca County councillors wondering how many more campgrounds are needed in the area.
At the March 8 meeting interim manager of planning and development Christa Wilkinson told council the land use bylaw (LUB) needs to change before the applicant can apply for permission to build a 50-stall RV park.
“The bylaw amendment covers the area needed for the development of a campground,” she said. “The property is located northwest of the Hamlet of Wandering River, on the west side of Flat Lake.”
There are 29 known campgrounds in and around Wandering River and Coun. Gary Cromwell, who represents the area, wondered aloud what impact another would have on the area.
“The goal of this policy area is development at the lakes and is designed to mitigate negative impacts on water quality and riparian health while ensuring public access and recreational opportunities for all,” said Wilkinson.
But Cromwell came prepared with a map showing the mass of campgrounds in the area, which was a common topic of discussion for the previous county council as many have been developed without the proper zoning or knowledge of the municipality. More campgrounds means more traffic and more problems overall — many locals have complained about ATV use, dust control issues and other disturbances caused by the seasonal population influx.
“So, everything with an orange dot is a current campground that is being used in our area,” Cromwell said. “That is a total on this map of 29, plus one coming is 30.”
And while he said he wants to support growth in the community, he is concerned for the infrastructure, road use, and safety.
“My fear is that if we're adding a 50-stall campground, you can very conservatively have 200, 300 people travelling on a long weekend,” he said. “Again, I want to make sure that we are setting both the residents and the part-time community up to succeed and that includes making sure infrastructure can handle that additional traffic.”
As a resident and former fire chief in Wandering River, Cromwell is certain there are other developed campgrounds Athabasca County doesn't know about.
Coun. Tracy Holland wondered if someone could figure out how many campgrounds there actually are, noting it has been an issue for several years.
“Are we able to get into Wandering River whether it be a development officer or a peace officer ... and actually identify what is in compliance, what is non-compliant, legal non-conforming, so that we have a really good idea before we keep adding on to what seems to be a quite a huge issue,” she asked.
Reeve Brian Hall wondered if the current request and tracking down non-compliant campgrounds were two different things, but Holland disagreed.
“I think we’re just compounding the problem by adding rather than discovering what we actually have,” she said. “It’s affecting a lot of people, it’s affecting infrastructure, it’s affecting emergency service. We just keep adding without knowing what we’ve got.”
Hall reminded council first reading of a bylaw doesn’t mean it will pass all three readings but it is required so a public hearing may be set.
“First reading gives us a chance to float the balloon up, get the public and the community involved and that's their opportunity to come down and speak for or against,” said Hall. “When we get to the point of having held the public hearing, we can choose not to go to second reading, we can choose to defeat it at second, we can choose to make a number of amendments.”
Cromwell reiterated he is all for growth, but is not without concerns.
“The county of Athabasca has about 7,000 people and on a good long weekend we can have 5,000 people in the Wandering River area if you want to put those numbers in perspective,” he said. “Not that we're against another campground but that we add a caveat to ensure that the back of house is able to handle what we’re bringing in.”
The public hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. March 31 at the Athabasca County council chambers.
