$3.1 million worth of changes are underway at the Keith J. Charters Traverse City State Park, where the campground has been closed since September to allow for construction and electrical work. The park is also in the midst of implementing a new schedule that will impact when and where visitors can camp in the area going forward.

According to Stephanie Rosinski, a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) unit supervisor for the Traverse City State Park, two separate projects have been in the works since the campground closed for the season on September 8, 2019. The first is a $1.9 million upgrade that will provide increased electrical accessibility and capacity at every campsite throughout the park.

“Our electric was just old,” Rosinski tells The Ticker. “When we had a lot of air conditioners running in the summertime, it would pop breakers.” To fix the problem, Consumer’s Energy set up a new electrical hookup for the park and Nowak & Fraus Engineers, a Pontiac-based civil engineer, ran new lines to each of the campsites. The setup enabled the DNR to install new electrical pedestals at every campsite – there used to be only one pedestal for every four sites – and to make at least 20-amp and 30-amp electrical hookups available to every visitor. The west loop of the park will also feature 50-amp electrical hookups, to accommodate bigger campers.

The second major project is a total replacement of the bathroom facility in the west loop. The new $1.2 million bathroom was built based on storm shelter standards from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In addition to encompassing showers and toilets, Rosinski says the building can hold up to 320 people in the event of a severe storm.

Other smaller improvements include the installation of 28 new cement pad sites, for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility; and 18 upgraded water spigots, for cleaner and more reliable potable water access.

The DNR is planning to open the campground on May 20. That timeline is slightly ahead of the original target date, which would have kept the campground closed until after Memorial Day. The earlier date is thanks to a relatively minor northern Michigan winter, which has enabled crews to work consistently throughout the colder months.

“We’ve had just a little bit of snow cover and our ground hasn’t frozen, so they’ve been able to keep digging and pulling wires underground since September,” Rosinski explains, adding that getting open by Memorial Day will serve as a sort of consolation prize for non-locals who tend to depend on the State Park when they visit Traverse City. “We had people pulling in here all fall that had to turn around and find a different place to stay,” she says. “We had it out on the internet that we were closed, but people are so used to just driving up to Traverse and stopping in that we did have to turn some people away. And when we were scheduled to be closed through Memorial Day weekend, we got a lot of upset calls about that. So I think even though we're still opening up late, people are happy that they will be able to camp here for that holiday weekend.”

Only the east and central loops of the campground will be open in May. Finishing touches on the FEMA bathroom will likely push the opening of the central loop to mid-June, though Rosinski says there are hopes to open it sooner depending on the speed of work.

In future years, campers can expect the east loop of the campground to open on April 1 and run through the first weekend of November, to accommodate the Iceman Cometh bike race.

The west and central loops will open May 1 and stay open through the State Park’s annual Harvest Festival, which takes place the first weekend of October. These schedule shifts are a distinct change from past years when the campground stayed open all winter long. However, Rosinski notes that winter traffic was typically very modest. Additionally, the lack of heat in the new FEMA bathroom – and the fact that it replaced the park’s only existing heated bathroom facility – will preclude winter business going forward.

Despite the elimination of the winter season at the campground, Rosinski expects a bright future for the State Park. Statistically, she says camping reservations tend to be more or less full from mid-June through Labor Day, with Cherry Festival, Film Festival, and Harvest Festival all bringing sellout crowds. The park is also in the process of putting together its “general management” plan for the next 10 years, which will outline future projects, improvements, and other changes for the coming decade. The State Park will host a public meeting on June 9 to discuss the general management plan, with time and venue to be announced at a later date.