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Crescent City’s new recreation director introduced an ambitious plan Monday to transform the city’s RV park into a resort that includes changing its name and logo.

Changing its identity didn’t seem as big a deal as ensuring the park could accept online bookings and making sure the building that houses its office is sound, but Holly Wendt told Councilors that Shoreline RV Park doesn’t stand out.

A Eureka Shoreline RV Park tops a Google search, Wendt said. Several other parks share the name and people sometimes find themselves reserving a spot in the wrong place, she said.

Plus, reviews for Crescent City’s park go back to 2010 and don’t reflect improvements staff made in 2015, Wendt said. There are places with better ratings that don’t offer the same amenities and services Crescent City’s Shoreline RV Park does, she told the Council.

“One of the things that stands out is it’s one of the only places to be right on the water and see the lighthouse,” Wendt said, adding that the committee and city staff had been working on the proposed park upgrades since before she was hired in July. “Moving forward with a logo and a name that links the city and RV park together and create a sense of continuity between the two might be a nice direction to move towards.”

Though they vacillated between incorporating the park’s proximity along Elk Creek as well as Beachfront Park into the name, Councilors liked the ad-hoc committee’s choice of Lighthouse Shores RV Park. They unanimously approved hiring a graphic designer to create a logo that mirrors the theme of the city’s street signs.

The City Council also unanimously approved an agreement with Campspot to provide software that allows visitors to make reservations online. According to the city’s staff report, the city’s 2019-2020 budget includes $5,000 for start-up costs to transition to an online reservation system as well as $5,500 for current and future reservation services.

Campspot has no initial startup costs and charges $2 per booking transaction, according to the staff report. The cost for the current booking system through Jan. 1 is $1,050, according to the report.

Staff estimate that if the park receives 1,500 reservations from January to July through the Campspot system, the total cost would be $3,000 for six months. The total estimated cost of the reservation system for a year is $4,050, according to the report.

Staff proposed using the remaining funds in the budget to complete improvements to the office and purchase new equipment and furniture to update it and create a camp store. According to Wendt, the office floor needs to be replaced, while the wall that faces the ocean also needs repairs due to the building’s age and its exposure to the elements.

According to the report, staff hope to have the repairs to the office finished by April. City Manager Eric Wier said the cost estimate is just for the materials. The work will be completed in-house, he said.

Meanwhile, the fiscal year 2020 budget has $3,500 allocated for advertising along with $500 for the new logo. The logo will be launched with the online booking system.

“With the online booking system coming and a new website coming, that’s where the new name and logo will really serve us,” Wendt told the City Council. “Then we can go back to Yelp and go back to other places and have a fresh start and be able to market ourselves based on what we’re currently offering to visitors to our area.”

Shoreline RV Park was built in 1971 and has been operated by the city since the mid 2000s, according to Wendt. In 2015, Crescent City gave the park a makeover using Economic Development Agency grant dollars. It decreased the number of sites from 192 to 94 and upgraded its utilities, the park’s layout and added improved amenities, according to the staff report.

The number of people staying at the RV park during the summer has increased steadily since 2017,  Wendt said. The park is often completely booked by July, she said.

One new idea the ad-hoc committee proposed for the RV park is an application process for month-long stays, Wendt said. These were modeled after similar systems found at KOAs and other RV parks, she said, and include a contract and guidelines to visitors about the upkeep of their spaces.

The committee also discussed adding picnic tables and fire pits as well as ways to make the park exclusive and protected, Wendt said. This included adding motion detector lights and greenery to separate the park from the adjacent coastal trail. The committee also discussed future rental ideas, including tent camping platforms with tents already on them as well as yurts.

During subsequent discussion, Crescent City Mayor Blake Inscore said having a store available for visitors at the RV park should be a priority. He also brought up the possibility of dedicating an area close to the office for campers on bicycles.

Inscore noted that Shoreline RV Park is one of the few money-makers for the city. It was able to generate enough revenue to pay back a $200,000 loan from the city’s general fund. He said he couldn’t think of a reason not to invest in the park.

“I think if we’re going to re-brand the park with a new name and a new logo, we need to make a commitment to where we’re going to go all-in and not adjust it again,” Inscore said. “If our goal is to be Lighthouse Shores Resort and Campground, we should go all in right now. We need to be who we want to be even if there’s a certain amount of aspirational to that.”

Inscore’s colleague, City Councilor Jason Greenough asked when the city was going to pave the park.

Wier said paving the road coming into the park would cost $150,000. Paving the entire park would be roughly $300,000, he said.

“Paving the park is not the same as spending $15,000 to upgrade the office building,” Wier said.

Mayor Pro Tem Heidi Kime, who sits on the ad-hoc committee, said paving would be wonderful, but she’d rather focus on the park’s safety.

“Personally I stayed there and I really would like to focus on safety and perimeter fencing,” she said. “Walking to the restroom in the middle of the night (it’d be good) for some automatic lights to come on. There are a lot of people walking through there that have absolutely no business being in there. That’s one thing I would put as a priority personally.”

In other matters, the Crescent City Council approved changing the city’s shutoff policy for residential water service. According to Finance Director Linda Leaver, the Council’s action states that the new water shutoff policy complies with state senate bill 998, the Water Shutoff Policy Act, which increases the number of days a water customer has to pay their bill before it’s considered delinquent.

According to Leaver, it’s the first step toward adopting a new water shutoff policy — something the new law requires to be done by Feb. 1. She said staff will bring an updated policy before the City Council at a future meeting.

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