Delegation to Waskesiu
July 22, 23 and 24, 2011
INTRODUCTION
On July 22, 23 and 24, 2011, Joan James, John George and Trevor Winters of the Cabin Association Board and Bob Fraser, as a member-at-large from the cabin area journeyed to Waskesiu in Prince Albert National Park (PANP) on a fact-finding initiative for issues common to both PANP and RMNP to assist us as we undertake the comprehensive review. The group met with Morris McLaughlin, the manager of the Waskesiu Marina, (and toured the marina), and we met with Community leaders, Barry Chapman, Herve Langlois and Rob Phillips. In addition we did an extensive look at the cabin area at Waskesiu (including tours of cabins owned by Barry Chapman’s 2 sons (new cabins built in the past 5 years) and Herve Langlois’s cabin which is on a lot which is 30 x 50 feet and has a washroom built into a 6 foot by 8 foot attached structure on his cabin. We also spoke to the townsite Manager Terry Schneider, and Coralee Vaillancourt the lease administrator at PANP. Unfortunately, because of a massive wind and hail storm in the previous few days, we had to speak to the Parks people via a conference call as we drove to Waskesiu due to their involvement in the clean-up. In addition, we spoke to a few cabin owners but we were limited in that effort because it rained all day Saturday so few people were out and about.
OVERVIEW OF WASKESIU
– PANP (Waskesiu) is more remote than RMNP, with the nearest communities being Prince Albert some 45 minutes away and Saskatoon being a 2 hour drive.
– The downtown area is newer with more modern buildings but far fewer trees. There appears to be fewer vacant buildings and the townsite has a liquor store and a post office (because there is no community such as Onanole just outside the Park).
– They have 2 grocery stores, a bakery serving cinnamon buns with or without raisins, and at least 6 restaurants if we include the golf course, with a 7th restaurant in the resort just outside of the park boundries. There is also a coffee shop and a movie theatre as well as various shops.
– Last year PANP received significant stimulus money to repave all of their streets, so the streets at Waskesiu are pretty well all paved, and roads leading into the Parks are good.
– Community leaders and Parks Canada worked together to address the Spruce Budworm issue at Waskesiu. Although there was initial resistance when the business community and cottages proved to the park that there is a product which can be safely sprayed and not harm other animals, the park agreed to spray for the budworm. Starting in 2002, 2003 and 2004 spraying of the townsite was done by air, using a product called BTK. At the first spraying, defoliation rates were 70%, and this dropped to 6% in 2005. The spraying was funded equally with Parks Canada, the golf course and the townsite paying equal amounts. They are currently experiencing another significant infestation and the community leaders we spoke to expect to spray again next summer.
– In all of our meetings it was readily apparent that the community and Parks Canada are working together to protect their assets, and to keep their park healthy.
MARINA
– This is a 220 slip (with another 15 short term slips) marina built by Parks Canada starting in 1962 and operational in 1963 – 64. The marina was built during the Diefenbaker era and there is a feeling that because this was his riding, perhaps it was easier for Waskesiu to get funding for a marina
– The marina has a fueling station (fuels boats in the water), 2 separate boat launch areas including one set of boat launches situated behind a large breakwater, a larger parking lot and a boat storage lot
– The marina is situated at least a 10 minute drive from the townsite which is inconvenient, but does prevent vandalism as the marina manager indicated that vandalism is virtually non-existent
– The marina manager pays 7% of gross to Parks Canada and slip rental ranges from $325 – $500 depending on the size of your slip. In addition, there is a launch fee of $7.50 per day, $15.00 for a 3 day pass, $20.00 weekly or $45.00 for the season
– The marina is now more than 50 years old so it requires significant work and expansion of slips to accommodate larger boats and pontoon boats. The marina manager is currently in negotiations with Parks Canada to fund this work which is budgeted at $1 million.
– One of the main issues they face is the removal of the poles which currently mark the berths, as these poles have been soaked in creosote and Parks Canada wants these poles out of the lake. Of interest is that testing of the lake has indicated virtually no pollutants either from gas or creosote.
– The marina is full and he has a 65 boat waiting list. In addition he has implemented a sharing plan to fully utilize the slips so that if you have a slip for the season but are not using it for a period of time, the slip is rented to vacationers, and the income is split. He runs a boat rescue program but does not do boat repairs.
– There are plans to renovate the marina, and negotiations are on-going with Parks Canada for funding.
CABIN / COTTAGES / SHACK TENTS
– There are currently 451 cabins as compared to RMNP at 525
– Waskesiu cabin area started in the 1940’s as shack tents which were dismantled every year, – starting in 1958 permenent cabins were allowed.
– The vast majority of cabins at Waskesiu are built off-site and hauled in. They do not have the trees nor the hills coming into their area that we do at RMNP.
LOT SIZES/ CONFIGURATION
– There are 2 different lot sizes at Waskesiu. Our lot sizes are 25×40 and Waskesiu is either 30×50 or 40×50. These lots have grown from a 40 foot length due to the following.
– In the early to mid 1980’s, Parks Canada approached the cabin area with a proposal that all camp kitchens (cookshacks) be removed and in exchange, every cabin lot was granted an additional 10 feet in length. We did not measure exactly, but the distance between decks (at the backs of cabins) appears to be about 15 feet. There are no back lanes.
– On lots 30×50, cabin owners are allowed to occupy 602 sq. ft. of the lot (this includes the cabin, deck and shed) and on 40×50 lots cabin owners are allowed to build on 650 sq. ft. Within this square footage cabin owners have an option on the size of their decks (built at the backs of cabin), and the size of their sheds, but they must fall into the total allowable square footage for that lot size.
– Each lot must have a minimum of 2 parking stalls which occurs on the side of the cabins, and according to the building guidelines there is no parking in front of cabins, but that is clearly not adhered to.
– Originally the lots on the outer edges of the cabin area were surveyed, and the inner lots were then determined by a process called “chaining”. That is, the use of lengths of chain were used to mark off the inner lots.
– The Waskesiu cabin area does not have many trees in it, and while their lots are now 50 feet deep, there is more room at RMNP at the backs of our cabins.
CABIN SIZE
– The area evolved until the present day cabin building guidelines which allows cabins to be 16 x 27 with a 16 foot height and full utilization of the second floor. In addition the Waskesiu cabins are allowed cantilevers or pop-outs on the second floor of 2 feet on each side and the back of the cabin. These cantilevers make a huge difference in the construction of the cabin, because the upstairs portions are now 20 feet wide while the main floor is 16 feet wide.
– Most cabins have decks built onto their back (since the mid 1980`s addition of 10 feet of property), and if they do not have decks they simply have extra space for their sheds. The famous “dog houses“ or washroom sheds occupy space on the deck. If your deck is built to 170 sq. ft. your dog house / wash shed occupies 48 sq. ft. of the deck space. Maximum deck height is 2.5 feet from the lowest existing grade level to the top of the main floor joist at mid point.
– The maximum size any wash shed can be is 60 sq. ft. and most are built to 48 sq. ft. to conserve deck space. For newly built cabins who have installed washrooms in the cabins, the outer sheds are now usually utilized for a washer and dryer.
– Permenant foundations are allowed as are crawl spaces, but no basements are allowed.
– All cabins have a bathroom, and the new cabins we saw usually had a full 3 piece bath up stairs with a sink and toilet in the downstairs part of the cabin.
– All cabins are on a 42 year lease and the cost of the lease varies from $1600 to $2000 with an additional water- sewer- garbage cost of $330 per year. (93% of Cabins selected the CPI option for their lease)
– Cabin values have increased dramatically since installation of water and sewer. Early in the transition period lot values jumped to $100,000, after 5 years they were $200,000 and now cabins are selling for up to $435,000. They attribute that increase directly to the installation of water and sewer.
– The asking price on this cabin is $385,000 and the asking price on this is $435,000 – whether they receive that price or not would have to be followed up on.
– At these values, the character of the community changes. Existing cabin owners were not forced out due to increased costs, but clearly at the prices being paid for cottages (cabins), not everyone will be able to afford to buy today.
WATER SEWER COST AND HISTORY
– The move to water and sewer to individual cabins occurred 13 years ago. There was never a vote of cabin owners but there had been 2 survey’s that indicated 70 – 75% of cabin owners were in favour of installing water and sewer to individual cabins.
– With the results of those survey’s, the cabin owners board approached park management with a proposal to install water and sewer to cabins.
– They have established a shallow system which has been trenched in. Water ran down one side of the street and the sewer lines ran down the other side and then the roads were trenched and the water and sewer lines were run to cabins. They have a system whereby there is only one water line per 2 cabins, and the line is Y’ed off between cabins.
– Waskesiu reported that as their streets were already a mess, they welcomed the additional work as it meant that the streets would be repaired and smoothed out, but they indicated that there was very little street damage, very little dust and virtually no disruption.
– There was no damage to trees, but in fairness they have few trees in the area. However as one man pointed out, the lines come down the street so they did not disturb any green space, and the trees that are at Waskesiu were not disturbed.
– The trenching from the edge of the property line to the water boxes at the cabins was the cabin owners responsibility and many of them trenched the line in with a shovel. The people we talked to did not have an indication of cost for this but it was not expensive. On gentleman said that the best way to do it was to bring in a trencher and a plumber and just go cabin to cabin and get them all done at once.
– Parks Canada funded the installation and extensions of the water and sewer lines, and Cabin owners were billed $134.00 per year for 10 years to pay for the extension of the water and sewer lines throughout the cabin area. This has now been completely paid for
– The release fees were waived by Parks Canada. A release fee is a one-time charge that Parks Canada can apply at their discretion, to any public property that is being taken out of public use and being reserved for the use of an individual.
– All cabin owners had the entire 10 year period to install a washroom in their cabin or to build a 48 to 60 sq. ft shed on their property to put their washroom in. This 10 year period was absolute and cabin owners had until October 31, 2008 to have their washrooms built (this is established in their building guidelines). At that time all public washrooms in the cabin area were removed. Where the old washrooms stood is now green space, and garbage and re-cycling bins are at the sites.
– During the 10 year transition period all public washrooms in the cabin area were kept open and maintained by Parks Canada. Parks Canada then paid all expenses associated with tearing down and removing these old buildings
– During the 10 year transition period, the cabin owners continued to pay their annual camping permit only. There was some confusion in that one person we spoke to claimed that the cabin owners paid an additional $50.00 per year to pay for cleaning of the washrooms while others claimed that there were no additional charges.
– Everyone we spoke to indicated that in their opinion, none of the existing owners was forced out or forced to sell because the transition to water and sewer was too expensive. The President at the time said that if there were people who felt they were forced out due to costs it would be a maximum of 10 people, and he did not think there were even that many. With a 10 year transition period, no one was forced out as over the 10 year transition the costs only increased by $134.00 per year, everything else stayed the same.
– In the fall of 2008 when the transition was completed, cabin owners switched from the one year camping permit to a 42 year lease. They were given 3 options for their leases and 93% opted for the Consumer Price Index for each year.
o 7/12 of 4% of appraised value
Re-appraisal every 10 years
o 7/12 of 3& opf appraised value
Re-appraisal every 2 years
o 1.5% of appraised land value
Land value increasing by the consumer price index (CPI) each year to a maximum increase of 5% per year.
– Annual lease fees range from $1600 – $2000 plus $339.00 for water /sewer/ garbage per year. The former president and the individual who was president during the transition feels that these fees are too high for the old cabin area, and his view is that the annual lease should be $1000 – $1200 per year (plus the water/sewer/garbage cost). However, it is possible that the cabin owners got a bit careless in these negotiations as they were convinced that Waskesiu was going to go to a Municipality and a municipal form of governance.
– Cabin owners were given a 4 year transition period while the new lease fees were implemented – in the first year they paid 25% of the total cost, in the second year they paid 50%, in the 3rd year they paid 75% and finally in year 4 they paid the entire amount.
MUNICIPAL GOVERNANCE
– There has been a great deal of discussion at Waskesiu (and a bit at RMNP) about the issue of governance, ie. stay in a National Park or form their own Municipality
– Municipal discussions among business, cottage and cabin owners at Waskesiu started some 15 years ago as many people at Waskesiu felt that the present structure of leases was creating unfair and inequitable treatment of people at Waskesiu. At that time, the cabin area, with small unserviced lots, were paying as much or more in annual “rent” as the fully serviced cottage area. In addition the Community leaders also felt that under a Municipal style of governance, costs to all business, cottage and cabin owners would significantly decrease (on the average) as compared to the costs associated with the Parks Canada leases. The individuals we spoke with have calculated that under a municipal governance structure, cabins would be paying around $1000 per year including water/sewer/garbage, ($700 plus $300) and cottages with their larger lots would pay more than that, they would, on the average, pay a lot less than the Parks Canada lease..
– Community leaders worked long and hard to influence the government of Saskatchewan to allow them to form a local Municipality, and in fact, Parks Canada assisted them in these negotiations with the province by paying the expenses for travel for community leaders to meet with government representatives.
– The biggest issue to address was the issue of education tax, and the province of Saskatchewan agreed that because this is federal land, and is seasonal, with no school within the federal reserve, that they WOULD NOT pay education taxes.
– When the issue of approving the municipality was put before the Saskatchewan legislature, the legislature voted against allowing the formation of a municipality, much to the surprise of the Waskesiu Community as they had received assurances that the approvals were forth-coming
– Informal analysis of the Saskatchewan government refusal to allow formation of a Municipality (some 10 – 12 years ago) indicates a number of possible reasons for the government’s about turn-of-face on the issue
o Under the lease arrangement with Parks Canada some cottage and business owners are paying very cheap “rent”, and these costs would go up to those individuals if a municipal government was formed. Like RMNP, there were, and still are significant inequities in lease payments depending on which lease option someone selected
o There is a large resort (which pays education tax) situated just outside of the Park boundries and some feel that the resort owners protested to the provincial government that if they have to pay education tax everyone else should have to pay as well.
– With the recent property re-assessments completed by Parks Canada, some business and cottage owners have seen huge increases in their costs at both Waskesiu and RMNP. There are a huge number of lease options available through Parks Canada, and if you opted for anything other than the CPI re-newal option, your lease costs have gone up 4 – 5 times, thus creating huge inequities and unfairness. Waskesiu is starting the Municipality discussions again to address the unfairness and inequitable treatment.
– The issue of governance is very complex and laden with many potential pit-falls. It will need to be approached with significant caution and a great deal of study as Municipal governance may not be the best solution. However, it would address the basic inequities and unfairness of the current system.
– It goes beyond the boundries of this brief study to comment any further, but it is one of the intentions of this review to present these as issues we may well address within the Comprehensive Review.
Questions for Town Site Manager; Waskesiw
1. How was the decision made to put sewer and water lines to individual cabins in the seasonal campground in Waskesiw ie: vote, board or park
2. Were you having any health and safety issues with the public washrooms prior to conversion to private?
3.. What was the cost of this project (cost per cabin)
4. How was this project financed. Was the cost entirely the responsibility of the cabin owners or was some of the cost shared by Parks Canada and the community of Waskesiw? Were any federal grants available for this?
5. Was a 10 year conversion time long enough or too long?
6. What restrictionsguidelines were put on the plumbed out house?
7. Was there considerable damage to vegetation due to installing water and sewer lines?
8. Was the camping season extended once private water and sewer lines were completed?
9. Re: long term leases, how was this decision made? (park, vote or board)
10. What were the lease options offered?
11. How was the land assessment done (based on previous sales?)
12. When you went to long term leases, it was done during the conversion time. How were the costs of maintaining bathrooms covered?
13. When the bathrooms were removed were they sold and moved out or demolished? If they were demolished at whose expense was this done?
14. What is the average cost of a lease in the cabin area?
15. When was the decision made to remove the cookshacks? How was this done (park, board or vote)?
16. Is there an advantage to Parks Canada to have this area on long term leases rather that camping permits?
17. If you were going through this process again (leases and s&w) is there anything you would do differently?
18. How was the decision to put in a Marina made? Was this strictly a Park decision or was it based on general interest of the public using the park?
19. How was the marina financed?
20. In the Parks opinion has the development of a Marina been beneficial and cost effective?
Questions for Cabin Owners in the Seasonal Campground Area
1. Are you happy with the decision to put sewer and water to individual cabins? Did you have a say in this decision ie vote?
2. Was the cost excessive to do this and did any cabin owners feel they had to sell because of costs?
3. Was a 10 year conversion time long enough or too long?
4. Have many owners experienced problems with shut down in fall and frozen water lines etc?
5. How much did your permit costs increase when s&w was installed?
6 Were you happy with the decision to go to long term leases? Did you have a say in this decision ie vote?
7 Have your costs gone up much since the long term leases were put into place?
8. How has the removal of the cookshacks impacted your camping experience?
9. How was the decision made to eliminate the cookshacks?
Questions for the Manager of the Marina
1. How was the decision to develop a marina made?
2. What is the capacity of this Marina and is it usually full?
3. What are the costs to store a boat, launch boats etc?
4. How are maintenance costs covered? Responsibility of Park or the person holding the lease?
5. What kind of lease agreement do you have with the park?
6. If you were building this again is there anything you would do differently?
(I’m sure John will have his own list of questions for this guy!)
If anyone has any further questions please feel free to add them.
