Tourism council will proceed with improvements to OCC when DNR application is approved
Four months ago the Ocqueoc Outdoor Center was saved from demolition. Today, it?s about $27,500 away from hosting campers again. With oversight being provided by the Presque Isle County Tourism Council, which will market the facility as a ?destination? in the county, the county commissioners allocated $27,500 for improvements. The Department of Natural Resources planned on tearing down all the buildings at the center in December, but an effort by the county put the brakes on the plan.
Since then, the county has applied to the DNR for conveyance of the property for public recreational use. The application still is being reviewed, and according to County Development Commission director Mary Ann Heidemann, may not be acted on until an April meeting of the DNR?s Land Review committee.
MARK SCHULER, tourism council president, gave a detailed presentation of the first phase of improvements and requested $40,000 from the board last Friday. ?I wish that I had a chance to spend $40,000 on a facility like this, because I think it?s money well spent,? said Schuler. ?I think it?ll be a huge benefit to the taxpayers, a huge benefit to this county.?
Commissioner Mike Darga of Rogers City, who made the motion, received unanimous backing (4-0), but only if the application of conveyance is approved. Schuler, prior to the vote, presented the board with a cost estimate for improvements, working with recommendations made by District Health Department No. 4, which were presented at a county meeting in January. The tourism council believes if their request to begin operations is cut in half, it would reduce initial expenses significantly.
?WE HAVE beds available for 100 people out there, and that?s what we?ve been thinking all along,? said Schuler. ?We don?t feel that we?re going to be dealing with 100 people this year,? Schuler continued. ?We?re not ready for that.? ?I asked (health inspector Frank Krist) if we cut it down to 48 people, it allows us to buy less beds, less mattresses, use less water, and not require the heavy septic system that he wanted us to put in,? said Schuler. Krist recommended a 7,000 square foot septic system be installed.
?Cutting the numbers in half, I was thinking that we possibly could cut our drain field down to 3,500 square feet,? Schuler said. Taking it further, the tourism council came up with an even better idea of three different systems at less than 2,000 square feet each. Anything more than 2,000 would require an engineer, which adds more cost.
?WE CAN do that, going with three different systems…with low flow, and have a wonderful system,? Schuler said. ?We didn?t want to put a 7,000 square foot drain field in place if our thoughts were, in 2005 or beyond, to install bathrooms (in the barracks), as we upgrade this facility.? Another area of concern is the well, which the health department recommended be replaced. A local well driller was consulted and determined that with a limited amount of people this year, what is in place now, with improvements made to equipment, should work.
The cost for the upgrade to the water system, which would include a new submersible pump, is estimated at $3,000. ?I don?t believe we are going to be dealing with 48 people this year, and if we do, it might be on a one time basis,? said Schuler. Already one group looking at camping there this summer is the 30 members of Presque Isle County 4-H, which has been camping in tents at the Sportsmen?s Club in Rogers City the last couple of y
The tourism council currently is building a data base from old MUCC records to see if they can bring some of those people back. Schuler said he had a conversation with a MUCC representative who regretted the day MUCC left the center. MUCC moved its camp downstate and hasn?t had the same response, Schuler said. MSU Extension director Dave Glenn said possible grant opportunities are being investigated.
?We feel that the community is going to be behind us on this,? Schuler said. The tourism council will continue to get out its message with a public input meeting March 24 at the Ocqueoc Township Hall. It?s scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
