Unhappy campers: City of St. John's shuts down Cochrane Pond campground over safety concerns
SJRFD chief concerned about potential for 'fire that cannot be managed safely'
About 100 people are scrambling to find a place to stay now that the City of St. John's has shut down the Cochrane Pond Family Campground, citing safety concerns.
"It's crazy," said Amy Woodfine, who has been camping at the site for six years.
"Nobody has any arrangements made."
The municipality shut the RV park down Thursday and Woodfine said she was stunned when she was served with an eviction notice on Thursday while bringing propane to her camper.
"Issues of fire and life safety, originally brought to the attention of the [St. John's Regional Fire] department at the end of last summer, have not been addressed in the off-season, nor have issues related to waste management, electrical deficiencies and septic systems," reads a press release from the City of St. John's.
Campers appear to be converted to dwellings and changes have been made to recreational vehicles that make them unmovable.- City of St. John's press release
"Furthermore, City inspectors have concerns about the potential that campers appear to be converted to dwellings and changes have been made to recreational vehicles that make them unmovable."
Unhappy campers
Some campers told CBC they have paid their fees in full, and were concerned about losing the $1,500 it cost for an unserviced lot.
Angry Cochrane Pond campground residents confront campground staff about the campground ‘sudden closure <a href="https://t.co/lWLVM6AeqZ">pic.twitter.com/lWLVM6AeqZ</a>
—@CBCMarkQuinnJenny King confirmed people stay at the campground all year.
"There's people who stay here for the year so they don't know where they're going to go," she said.
"It's sad."
Campground responds
Jeff Petten, whose family operates the campground, was on site Thursday when city officials were giving out eviction notices.
He said the campground was inspected last fall, but his family wasn't made aware of any issues.
"You can't fix it if you don't know what's broken," he said.
"Instead of a sudden stomp of the foot, I would have hoped that there would be sort of a grace period and a written statement of what the issues were, because we've had a good long-standing relationship with all the agencies that we've had to deal with over the years.
He said the RV park has been operating in its current condition for years and that his family wasn't given any notice that their business would be shuttered Thursday, sending away more than 100 customers.
Main concern
The press release says campers will be allowed to retrieve personal property, but will not be allowed to visit overnight until the identified "life safety and public health issues" have been rectified.
"Our primary concern at this point is the condition of the road and the lack of a secondary access, which could result in a fire that cannot be managed safely," fire chief Sherry Colford says in the media release.
"We cannot permit this campground to continue to operate until it is safe to do so from a fire prevention and protection perspective, both for campers and for first responders."
With files from Mark Quinn