It’s been a few weeks now since we ran an article about local resident Dan Cross’s proposal for an RV park, and we are hearing a bit of reaction.
Cross had come up with a proposal to establish an RV park on Town of Ladysmith-owned property on your way down to Transfer Beach. His idea was to lease land from the Town for three years and operate a 54-site family-oriented RV park from May through September.
Ladysmith council told Cross in early May that council is not able to pursue his proposal at this time. The Town will be updating its Waterfront Area Plan this year, and council has determined that no decisions regarding permanent or temporary use of waterfront lands will be made before the updated plan is adopted.
An RV park is not part of the current Waterfront Area Plan for that area, which is from 1997. The updated Waterfront Area Plan is expected to be completed by the spring of 2014, and there’s no guarantee it will conclude that an RV park is a good fit in that location. Council says that if, after this review of the plan and the community consultation that goes along with it, an RV park is desired in the Transfer Beach area, it will “consider its options at that point.” Council has stated it would like to see an RV park somewhere in Ladysmith.
Some might say the town has been studied to death — as Don Harrison does in a letter to the editor today. Studies can provide a lot of valuable information for moving forward, but the timing is unfortunate, as Ladysmith will miss out on at least this year’s tourist season and possibly next year’s as well.
Whether it ends up being in that location or not, and whether it is Cross’s proposal or another one, it’s hard to deny that Ladysmith needs more places for people to stay. And it can be hard to wait patiently and watch RVs drive by.
—The Chronicle
