HomeMy Public PortalAboutCM Report - IDPR Project Attachment Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation (IDPR)
Statement of Purpose
for
Development of Kookanee Cove, Ponderosa State Park, McCall, Idaho
The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation (IDPR) board and staff are developing a plan for the potential development of a Kokanee Cove six-acre parcel of property within Ponderosa
state Park, located at 1920 Davis Avenue in McCall, Idaho.
The six-acre Kokanee Cove parcel is part of Ponderosa State park which is in the heart of Idaho's most popular and fastest growing year-round recreation destinations. Payette Lake is
the primary attraction of the park and provides for a variety of water-based recreation activities. Ponderosa State Park is is located within the Southwestern Tourism Region which accounts
for over 40 percent of the state's tourism expenditures an approximately 37 percent of all overnight visitor volume to the state.
The property available for development was the former site of a Nazarene Church Camp, which ended operation in 2000. Several buildings remain on the site, primarily consisting of bunkhouses
and support facilities of 1960's and earlier construction.
IDPR has four objectives for the development of this property:
To provide enhanced, year-round recreational opportunities for the visiting public by offering a diversity of services, available to a wide range of park users and the public including
families and groups. There could be a main lodge surrounded by cabins, a 300-foot sandy beach, recreational areas and a marina with docks and possible boat fueling area.
To successfully blend a new recreation opportunity with the park's natural landscape (e.g. environmental and aesthetic), the parks' existing development and the park's established summer
and winter programs and uses.
The Kookanee Cove project will be a multifaceted facility. It might include a respite place where families with ill children from a Children's hospital could go to rest and rejuvenate;
it would be a wonderful spot for weddings, reunions and outdoor celebrations and a venue for large corporate team building. There is a possibility for an expanded McCall Outdoor Science
School (MOSS) which is operated by the University of Idaho's College of Natural Resources. It is a program where students learn by immersing themselves in nature and grow and create
while exploring the science of ecology.
To employ the best commercial practices to the benefit of of both the IDPR and the Concession Leasee in the form of sufficient return for each.
To maintain positive relations with local communities, adjacent property owners and park users.
Preliminary indications are that the approximate cost of the property development will be $10 million. All donated funds will be sent to and managed by a non-profit organization. All
of the facilities will be owned by the State of Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation and leased to a concessionaire for management.
There are no state funds available for construction and it is anticipated that none will be available in the foreseeable future.