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Parks committee proposes online reservations, $25 nightly fee and seven-day stay limit for county campgrounds
Summary
Parks committee reported planned changes to Rockbridge and Viola county parks including online reservations, raising the camping fee (to be clarified as per-site vs per-person), seven-day maximum stays with seven-day break requirement, 10 p.m. quiet hours and improvements to facilities; the county plans a formal resolution.
The county's parks discussion centered on operational changes aimed at improving revenue and reducing volunteer gate staffing needs at Rockbridge Park and Viola campground.
A parks committee member said the committee voted to move from paper in-person fee collection to an online reservation platform with mapped campsites and electronic receipts. The committee member said the in-person $10 process led to uncollected fees and that an online system with QR-code or kiosk options would reduce unpaid stays and provide receipts for law enforcement checks.
Committee members proposed raising campsite fees to $25 per night and limiting stays to seven consecutive nights followed by a seven-day absence at county parks, with quiet hours beginning at 10 p.m. The committee also discussed charging grandstand events at the fairgrounds separately and keeping general fair admission free if the board adopts the fair resolution (see votes summary). Several members asked staff to confirm whether the $25 fee is per site or per person; staff said they would clarify and return a resolution.
Parks staff discussed sanitary and water-safety work at Viola. They said well testing had returned multiple positive bacteria tests (six tests cited as positive) and that staff are working through a vacuum-breaker repair and additional cleaning; DNR testing and clearance will be required before full reopening for overnight camping. The committee said existing restroom buildings had been removed, concrete slabs poured and accessible porta-johns deployed using remaining DNR grant funds from a bike-trail grant.
Staff indicated Viola will be mapped with 10 campsites and Rockbridge will have about 10 identified sites; signage and digital maps are planned. Staff cautioned the county lacks staff to regularly police parks and said dispersed enforcement would rely on receipts and law-enforcement checks. The committee agreed to draft a resolution with these key points and return it to the committee for adoption.
Clarifying details: staff said they had run six water tests at Viola that came back positive for bacteria; the parks committee voted to move to an online platform, raised the fee proposal to $25 per night (staff to confirm per-site vs per-person) and to set a seven-night maximum stay with a seven-day break requirement; Viola and Rockbridge were described as having about 10 campsites each and porta-johns were placed after demolishing older restrooms.
