It’s been a long time coming, but the Brookside Campsite in Cache Creek—which was forced to close on April 24 after flooding washed away two culverts in the creek and rendered the campsites inaccessible—reopened last week, after more than 11 weeks of closure.
Dana Hendricks, who owns the campsite with his long-time girlfriend Marissa Ferguson, says it’s been a long and frustrating battle to get the campsite reopened. He and Ferguson took ownership of Brookside in June 2017 and began clearing up after that year’s flooding, only to then see the campsite made inaccessible during the evacuation of Cache Creek following the start of the Elephant Hill wildfire on July 7, 2017.
Hendricks identified the two culverts in Cache Creek as vulnerable in the event of another flood, and in February of this year approached the Village of Cache Creek for permission to construct a bridge across the creek, using a small portion of Village land in the process.
Hendricks explains that the Village owns a small portion of land beside Brookside bordered on all three sides by private property, and that one of the things mentioned by the Village was the possibility of building a road through it to connect Stage Road with Highway 1. “But part of the Village’s property is less than two metres wide; not wide enough for a road.
“We had an engineer submit a report to the Village, at their request,” he says. “The report said we were at very high risk in case of flooding; it was very clear on that. But there was no progress on the Village’s side. They kept delaying, and we did sustain damage, and then they decided it was time to start negotiating with us and ask for future concessions [in exchange for using Village-owned land].
“But they didn’t seem to have a plan. We just needed permission so we could order [bridge] supplies, but every day of delay made things more difficult. They were very vague; they wanted access for anything they wanted the land for, and wanted us to say we’d work with them in the future.”
Hendricks says all engineering surveys for the bridge, as well as plans, were in place when they approached the Village. “The chief administrative officer asked for $2 million in liability insurance, then felt that $4 million would be better, and then that increased to $5 million. They didn’t appear to be following any regulations or guidelines.”
An agreement with the Village, allowing Brookside to use a portion of Village land for the construction of a bridge, was finally signed on May 30. Work on the bridge was able to start, but it was not until July 7 that the campsite was able to open again.
“We lost a lot of money,” says Hendricks frankly, speaking of the flooding and the 11 weeks of closure during prime tourist season. “We lost revenue, but still had bills to pay.” In addition to forcing the campsite to close, this year’s flooding destroyed two prime camping sites by the creek and another six further into the campsite.
He adds that it was frustrating, as a local business person, to be invited to a banquet hosted by Gold Country Communities Society earlier this year when the campsite was closed and negotiations with the Village had stalled.
“Speaker after speaker talked about how great tourism is and how they support it, and we’re sitting there about to go bankrupt. We finally walked out because we just couldn’t take it anymore. We didn’t even stay for the dinner.
He says it was difficult to live with his future in other people’s hands. “It was a sick feeling. They had nothing to lose. They could go home at night and not worry about going bankrupt.”
Hendricks says that he and Ferguson had plans for the campsite this year that would have brought more people to the town, but that those plans are now on hold. He also notes that the campsite being closed for so long would have had an economic impact on Cache Creek.
“Because people stay the night here, they stop in the town and buy everything there: groceries, gas, meals. Instead, Clinton and Savona got [the campsite’s] business, and they got the town’s business.”
He points out that the campsite itself also generates income for the town. “We buy our supplies locally. We probably put $100,000 into the community. But this year we had to lay off employees.”
With the completion of the bridge, Brookside is once again open, and Hendricks says that “We’re doing well, considering. But every day that the Village delayed us, we had to tell a booking agent, our reservations, and return guests that we couldn’t accommodate campers. That’s damaged our business.
“If [the Village] had signalled that they would help us in any way—even if they’d said ‘Start [building the bridge] and we’ll figure it out’—that would have been fine. But they held my business hostage.
“The flood was hard, but Mother Nature didn’t mess us over the way people did. We can clean up, but we can’t make people make decisions.”
editorial@accjournal.ca
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