Campers looking to enjoy the great outdoors in the Sundre area can look forward to the use of the Westward Ho Campground for at least another four-and-a-half years.
Mountain View County council gave its blessing on April 24 to an extension of a contract between the county and the Westwood Ho Campers Association to run the campground until Dec. 31, 2017.
While the county owns the campground, the association, which is made up of a group of the park's seasonal campers, will operate the facility.
Gord Toews, an association member and the campground's manager, said the association, which took over operations of the park in March of 2012, is happy to have a long-term agreement in place with the county.
“We're very pleased with it,” said Toews.
He added that several changes included in the contract to operate the park will also benefit the association in its aim to “run a nice campground.”
The changes will require the association to receive the county's written approval on any capital expenditures or major projects and the association will have to create a list of any planned capital projects, such as putting in a boat launch or building a swimming pool, by Feb. 1 of each year and complete those projects in that year.
It will also need to commit $22,500 towards “approved capital projects,” a county staff report states.
“With this new system now, we'll be able to plan ahead,” he said. “It's a lot easier to find out the cost of something over three or four years instead of one.”
There are no major projects planned for the park for 2013, he added.
Another change in the contract was a requirement that the association obtain “all risks” property insurance for the campground.
This requirement was removed from the agreement, the staff report states, since the county owns the buildings at the campground, not the association.
Toews said it's therefore up to the county to insure the buildings and the association is responsible for insuring all other areas of the park.
He added the change was necessary since it is illegal for two parties to insure one asset.
Last year was a “pretty good year” for the campground, which is open year round and has 300 seasonal sites and 250 sites set aside for group and single camping, he said.
When asked if the park made a profit last year, he said the association is a non-profit group that gives any profits back to the community.
For example, the association recently gave $10,000 to a regional food bank and sponsors a baseball team in Olds and a hockey team in Sundre.
The county and the association will renegotiate the contract term one year prior to its expiry at the end of 2017.
