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McCall council weighs Payette Lake ramp fees and future of waterfront concessions after Cheap Thrills permit lapses
Summary
City parks staff briefed the McCall City Council on last year’s ramp fee pilot, concession permits and options including a possible pause on large commercial concessions; councilmembers asked for more study and public outreach and did not authorize an immediate request for proposals.
McCall — City parks staff on Monday updated the McCall City Council on ramp user fees, commercial permits and concessions at Payette Lake’s Legacy Park, saying the city collected $16,159 from the ramp fee pilot last year and that the longstanding concession with Cheap Thrills expired Dec. 31 with no immediate replacement application.
Kurt Wolf, McCall parks and recreation director, told council members this meeting was “the first formal touch on this topic” since the city adopted a fee resolution last year. He outlined revenue from the first year of fees, described changes in the mix of waterfront users and recommended additional study, clearer concession standards and more public engagement before the council decides how to proceed for the coming season.
The discussion matters because the ramp and adjacent public shorelines are heavily used, staff said, and fees and concession agreements affect maintenance funding, enforcement capacity, water-quality monitoring and how much public shoreline is available for noncommercial users. Wolf said ramp fee revenue can be used to match grant funding and to support maintenance and monitoring that are “hard to budget for annually.”
City staff told the council the 2024 pilot produced $16,159 in ramp-fee revenue; the former concession with Cheap Thrills brought roughly $10,000 annually, and a separate concession at Art Roberts Park had historically generated about $1,000. Wolf described a range of possible policy changes discussed by staff, including a single commercial-permit fee or a tiered permit for larger operators, a single in-state/out-of-state fee schedule, limiting fee collection to a defined season (Memorial Day through Oct. 1) and using fee proceeds for staffing such as “ambassadors” to direct traffic and educate users.
Council members pressed staff on enforcement, equity and environmental monitoring. Councilmember Julie (last name not specified) said the city should budget for water-quality studies and said ramp fees should help fund those studies. “We need to be part of providing funding for that,” she said.
Other councilmembers expressed differing views on whether the city should actively seek a new commercial operator now. Councilmember Colby said he opposed removing the concession without considering local businesses’ needs; “My initial reaction to not having the concession down there is ‘no,’” he said. Councilmember Mike (last name not specified) said existing concession operators and employees rely on that business and argued the city should not proactively shut down local commerce, but also urged clearer communication and controls so concessionaires do not treat public beach area as private.
A number of council members and staff also raised the possibility of encouraging a different mix of vendors — for example, operators focused on nonmotorized recreation such as kayaks or paddleboards — or moving some commercial activity away from the Legacy Park shoreline to reduce conflicts and safety risks where swimmers and motorized craft converge.
Staff described the timeline for concession proposals: applications were accepted under the city’s annual calendar and the current application window closed today. Wolf said no new proposals had been submitted by the deadline. Council members said that, with no applicant on file and given the need for more public engagement and a tighter set of concession standards, they did not have consensus to direct staff to issue a new request for proposals immediately. “I don’t think we have consensus for you to go out to do an RFP. That’s what I’m hearing,” one councilmember said.
The council did not adopt any new fees or grant staff authority to award a concession at the meeting. Staff said they will regroup, incorporate council feedback and schedule a follow-up work session before making a formal recommendation. The meeting concluded with an adjournment motion approved by voice vote.
Votes at a glance: The only formal motion recorded in the transcript was to adjourn; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote (exact roll-call tally not specified).
