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A vote tonight by Sault Ste. Marie City Council has effectively closed Pointe des Chenes campground.
The vote to not continue a 35-year-old arrangement under which the Lions Club has operated the municipally owned facility passed 8 to 3, with only Ward 1 Coun. Sandra Hollingsworth, Ward 4's Marchy Bruni and Ward 5's Matthew Scott opposed.
The campground closure won't affect the adjoining day park and beach, which will remain open, serviced by portable toilets.
Unless councillors decide to look for a new campground operator and funding, the closure is expected to be permanent.
Mayor Christian Provenzano thanked the Lions Club for its work in operating the campground, which needs $275,000 in new equipment and suffers from water quality issues.
"We're certainly interested in having conversations with you on the effect this will have on the Lions Club and how we might support you in the interim on a going-forward basis," the mayor said.
In a typical year, the Lions Club made $30,000 to $40,000 from operating the campground, all of which was reinvested into the city.
The property was originally Crown land that was conveyed to the city by the federal government.
Susan Hamilton-Beach, the city's director of public works, said the 108-campsite property will now be secured, but there are no definite plans for it at this time.
"Anything further will obviously be taken back for your decision," she told councillors.
"No decision that we make tonight will affect the day park or access to the day park," Mayor Provenzano said.
"The day park is an important park. I think everyone on council recognizes that and wants to preserve it and probably invest in it if we can find those resources. The reality is, this is just about the campground and the trailer park," the mayor said.
Malcolm White, the city's chief administrative officer, told tonight's meeting that operating campgrounds isn't a mandated municipal service.
"There is the odd municipality that does operate campgrounds. It is something that is over and above what would normally be called the traditional municipal services," White said.
Hamilton-Beach said under pandemic regulations imposed last year, only campsites that provided electricity, sewer facilities and water facilities to each lot could be open.
"We certainly expect we will be operating under that again this year," she added.
The campground is currently under an Algoma Public Health directive that prohibits it from supplying drinking water.
Ward 3 Coun. Matthew Shoemaker pointed out that the city is being asked to spend more than a quarter-million dollars for needed infrastructure improvements at the campground, all for just 200 or 300 people.
"It's a lot of money for a fairly limited amount of people," Shoemaker said. "If we're going to be asked to put such a substantial amount of money into a municipal service, my view is that it should be put into a service that is more broadly accessible to the public, such as the Pointe des Chenes beach or some other service that benefits the community more widely."
Ward 4 Coun. Bruni wanted to keep the campground going in 2021, while issuing a request for proposals from the private sector.
Ward 1 Coun. Hollingsworth asked whether any private businesses have expressed interest in buying the property.
Like Bruni, Hollingsworth said she preferred keeping the campground open for one more year while seeking a private purchaser.
Tom Vair, deputy chief administrative officer for community development and enterprise services, told Hollingsworth that no businesses have come forward to express interest in the property.
Ward 5 Coun. Corey Gardi expressed concern about high levels of carcinogenic benzene in the property's water, and what he saw as the city's slowness in pushing for solutions from Transport Canada.
Algoma Public Health believes the chemical originates from fire training exercises at the nearby Sault Ste. Marie Airport.
"I don't want to say dropping the ball is the right word, but there hasn't been the attention needed to be paid at that facility for the better part of 20 years," Gardi said.
"I just think a lot more could have been done to pay attention to that."
"There's a new minister of transport [Omar Alghabra] who I believe [Sault MP Terry] Sheehan is close to. You might want to try again."
Even after the campground's water infrastructure is repaired, it will still be delivering contaminated water, Gardi said, adding: "We need to ensure it's safe. We can't ensure it's safe right now."
"I'm not really in favour of selling it for private lots.... I can't support the use of it this year for the sheer fact that it isn't safe."
Asked by Ward 2 Coun. Lisa Vezeau-Allen why the campground's critical infrastructure needs weren't made a priority in the city's capital budget, Susan Hamilton-Beach said that city staff had been directed to spend as little money as possible on the property to ensure it was no expense to the taxpayers of Sault Ste. Marie.