Draft Recommendations - LOP Campground
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The following excerpt is from the Executive Summary of the Review of Services Report of Draft Recommendations. Detailed findings on this service are available in document downloads at right.
Lake Ontario Park (LOP) Campground has been host to a number of large events, providing an underdetermined level of economic benefit to businesses in the surrounding neighbourhoods and downtown. However, the LOP overnight camping facilities, which can only be used by tourists are under utilized and are not attracting the same degree of interest as its private sector competitors.
It is recommended that prior to making a decision to exit the overnight campground business, the City needs to undertake a market assessment to review the supply/demand for existing product within the tourism industry; the effectiveness of the LOP Campground operations; the suitability of the LOP Campground amenities to meet market demands and ultimately identify any deficiencies that should be addressed to better meet economic sustainability objectives.
A business plan should be developed to identify the feasibility of meeting/modifying the existing public policy objective while at the same time eliminating/lowering the taxpayer subsidy required. A life-cycle assessment of the LOP Campground’s infrastructure is also needed to determine future capital needs. The assessment should identify, consider and assess alternate uses of the Campground section of Lake Ontario Park to confirm the highest and best use of the site in the context of the City’s entire portfolio of parks and tourist related facilities.
