Campers, RV owners and marina users will all see an increase of three percent in fees at the Grand Marais recreation park next year.
The Grand Marais Park Board met Tuesday, November 4, at city hall. The main topic of discussion centered on setting new rates for 2020.
Parks and Recreation Director Dave Tersteeg presented several rate options for the park board to consider. The suggested increases were for monthly/seasonal camping, nightly camping, seasonal marina, nightly marina, and storage. The rate hikes for 2020 ranged from 1.5 percent, 3 percent, to 5 percent.
At 1.5 percent, a 12-month standard fee for a trailer would increase from $3,674 to $3,729. At 3 percent, it would jump to $3,784, and at 5 percent, it would climb to $3,858.
Using the same scenario, a 12-month prime (lakeside) site would increase from the current $4,232 to $4,295 ( at 1.5 percent) to $4,359 and $4,444 at three and five percent increases.
Nightly camping rates that include electric, water, and sewer would rise from $38 to $38.50, $39, and $40.
After some discussion board chair Sally Berg said a three percent raise in campground and marina rates seemed fair to her, and the board agreed with her, voting unanimously for the increase. Tersteeg reminded the board that the current rate of inflation is 1.7 percent, and camping on the north shore is very robust, so he didn’t think the small increase would drive away any business.
Golf course year-end report
Gunflint Hills’ main focus for 2019 was to improve the course conditions, said Paul Jones, Gunflint Hills golf course superintendent. “Which I think helped increase a positive result to the top-line numbers.
“The 25 percent increase in revenue was directly related to the turf beginning to regain density, with an emphasis on quality greens resulting in holding our membership and increasing daily rounds. The course conditions improvements were definitely noticed by members as well as new and old visitors. Our loss at the end of the previous seasons was $40,000 to $60,000, and this year it was inside $10,000.
“This was achieved without any marketing, signage, or tournaments on our part,” he added. “We had great summer weather for play, but the fall was wet, and the course was too wet to play at the end of September and into October.”
Jones said a primary goal is to find ways to increase revenue along with finding, hiring, and training staff to carry on, “our positive improvements made in operations this past year, and work on marketing strategies.”
Some new workers will have to be hired next summer. “We had three part-time maintenance staff that were able to keep the grounds basic maintenance up to par. All three specialized in something, so we seemed well rounded, which worked. With Twinky’s emphasis on mechanical, Marlow on irrigation, and Cody on mowing, we were able to keep conditions playable. We had a good team effort, but we will need to revamp for next year since Cody moved out of state, Twinky is going from four days to two days and Marlow is uncertain.”
Much of the golf course equipment is older and will, at some time, need to replaced.
“We will continue to update equipment as the capital schedule allows,” Paul said. Topping the needs is a new sprayer, fairway mower, top dresser, and tow behind blower.
“Our current sprayer is very old. We have it working, but it leaks chemicals and is inefficient and inconsistent. I will need to put $2,500 into it this spring to make it useable.”
This season some irrigation heads were replaced or repaired, and some were found to be so old there aren’t available parts to fix them.
Currently, the course has 14 golf carts. Some are electric, and some are gas engines. On weekends and for special events, the course doesn’t have enough golf carts, Paul told the board. Fewer people are choosing to walk the course and want a cart, he added. Tersteeg said Gunflint Hills made $25,000 renting golf carts last year, so they are a good revenue maker for the course.
“Several carts will need new seat covers. We will be adding a few newer gas carts and will be reviewing lease options to see if it make sense to replace the old mix with newer uniform gas carts,” said Jones.
No discussion was held about golf fees for next summer but Paul was instructed to check into leasing golf carts that potentially could be purchased by the course.
Campsites get renumbered
A topic discussed at the last meeting about renumbering the campsites so both park workers and campers wouldn’t get confused was settled at this meeting. Currently, the map is divided into an east side/west side line marked by 8th Avenue South. The east side sites are numbered
2-100, and the west side sites are numbered 1W-215. When the “W” is dropped from the west side 1-100 sites, Tersteeg said that leads to confusion and frustration.
After much discussion, the park decided to have four sections numbered sequentially. The different sections will have different colored markers. Tersteeg said he would post that on the park’s website for those people who will start making reservations online in January.
Parkside public water access update
Tersteeg recently attended a meeting with the DNR in Moose Lake State Park and reviewed 50 percent of the construction documents for the break wall that will be added onto and made pedestrian friendly that is near the dog pound.
Meeting with Tersteeg and the DNR was the Smith Group, who is designing and engineering the break wall.
Dave said while plans are moving ahead to build the protective break wall, no work will probably happen until 2021. It was hoped the DNR could move rock in this winter – which still could happen – said Tersteeg, but it’s unlikely unless permits are fast-tracked, or hauling begins before all of the permits are in place.
Once the construction documents are 90 percent completed the DNR will present the project to the city council and hold a meeting for the public, said Tersteeg.
Leave a Reply