SOUTH DUNDAS – A movement is afoot whereby the seasonal campers of the Iroquois Campground are working towards forming a non-profit corporation for self-government.
“Now that we have voted 100% in favour of governing the campground via a Non-Profit Corporation, to proceed further, we now need the approval of council,” said an August 27 letter posted publicly on a community notice board.
The approval of council is required because the Iroquois Campground is a municipally-owned and operated South Dundas asset.
“Staff have recently been approached by an Iroquois Campground user who has garnered the support of many of the seasonal campers to explore changing to a “community-driven” management model for the site,” said a South Dundas staff report presented to council September 10 asking for council’s permission to explore the possibility of leasing, not only the campground, but also the airport and lawn bowling facilities to the non-profit corporation.
While the staff report did not name the Iroquois Campground user who approached them with the idea, the publicly posted letter, signed only by John Ross said: “I fully expect that council will give this approval for staff to proceed. Then I can work with the staff and our lawyer until there is a full agreement on the terms of the final legal documents that define our lease of the campground and also the rules under which we will run our non-proft corporation.”
The South Dundas staff report from CAO Ben deHaan and Director of Parks, Recreation and Facilities David Jansen recommended that: “council support staff working with the proposed non-profit group representing the Iroquois Campground, Lawn Bowling, and Airport users to create a potential lease agreement between our parties.”
Council supported investing in staff time and lawyer time to investigate a potential lease agreement.
The Iroquois Campground has 51 sites used by seasonal campers, and approximately 14 sites for transient users. All campsites have water and electricity. The site also contains a separate building with washrooms/ showers, multi-purpose room, kitchen and laundry facility. The recreational portion of the building is shared among three user groups: the campground, the lawn bowling club and the airport.
The Municipality currently holds a reserve fund for the Campground valued at approximately $210,000 (excluding 2025 net profits).
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