Campground design

[hotpepperkid]

It seams to me there is or should be a lot of research done before they build camp grounds. Which direction should the spaces face, the placement of utilities to accomadate the majority of RV'ers, the type of tree and where to plant them for max shade from say noon to late after noon

[myredracer]

D.E.Bishop wrote:

No I'm not giving you the address yet, we want to be able to camp there at least once before it becomes very popular. It is in Oregon, however.

Huh... Can you say google, lol? Looks pricey and will pass so don't worry 'bout us. 🙂

[D_E_Bishop]

Two days ago we stumbled upon a new campground that is in limited operation while still under construction. The property is ocean front and a lot of clearing and contouring was required to have a random pattern of sites. One party that camped there said in a review that pulling front end in to a back inn site resulted in slides from their rig being to close to another rig. Duh! Backed into the sited looked like it would be roomy. Of course the utilities were on the wrong side too, again Duh!

We thought it was appealing in looks and layout, roomy, and views of the water from most sites. They have cabins and Airstreams in some sites that are for rent.

The rv pads were paved, the patio part were pavers. They were open enough to drain but solid enough for the provided picnic tables and extra chairs.

Of course the landscaping is still being installed and will take a few years to develop. Being exposed to the ocean view also means the ocean breezes and winds. Not everthing grows in that enviroment.

We will be camping there next spring and we are anxious to see the finished product.

No I'm not giving you the address yet, we want to be able to camp there at least once before it becomes very popular. It is in Oregon, however.

[johnhicks]

When we put in a new CG at a co-op in Florida 10 years ago the insurance company gave us a price for no trees and a tremendously higher price for trees. The existing trees were actually diseased orange trees so they went away anyway.

We were allowed to plant what amounted to large shrubs.

[Kentucky__Jo]

At Teepee cg in Mackinac City, Michigan they have removable post which makes it much easier to get into your site. Just found that so interesting and smart. Though I'm sure there's someone out there that wouldn't like it. The most important thing to me when I arrive at a cg is that they have a site available!! Lol

[jplante4]

westernrvparkowner wrote:
Design of parks is almost entirely dependent on the topography and unique features of the site. Flat, level sites with straight wide roads might be easy to construct in a Kansas cornfield. Not as easy to carve those features out of the side of a mountain.

A perfect example of what WPO is talking about...



Branson Shenanigans RV Park Branson MO. Carved into the side of a hill on terraces. On some sites you're looking down on to the roof of your next door neighbor.

[myredracer]

There is NFPA 1194 "Standard for Recreational Vehicle Parks and Campgrounds". It covers site layouts, sewer requirements, potable water requirements, pedestal locations, etc. An older free version is here. I don't know if this standard has to be adopted at a state level or by a local authority having jurisdiction.

Even if there is a standard, many CGs go back to the 50s & 60s when there weren't any.

Trees? :E Have been to a few on the west coast where it's literally like a jungle and on leased native land where cutting and pruning of trees is prohibited. Very hard to get around corners and into sites. If you look up at overhanging trees & limbs you can see where they've been whacked more than a few times.

Then there was the CG near Wenatchee WA we were just at. Very few trees anywhere and around 105F temp. OMG, we thought we were gonna die even with the AC running flat out.

[toedtoes]

Expyinflight wrote:
The trees are too tall. The trees are too short. The trees are the wrong type. The trees are too slow growing. The trees are planted in the wrong place. The trees don't shade my RV at just the right time of day. The trees brush the side of my rig. The trees block my satellite. The turns in the road are too tight. The utilities are located in the wrong place. YIKES!!

There is no possible way to make each and every camper....happy.

I pity the campground/RV park owner, and often wonder where they find the patience to persevere each day. But I'm thankful that they do.

Then we wonder why so many private parks look like parking lots... Maybe they decided to eliminate the "tree problem" altogether.

[Expyinflight]

The trees are too tall. The trees are too short. The trees are the wrong type. The trees are too slow growing. The trees are planted in the wrong place. The trees don't shade my RV at just the right time of day. The trees brush the side of my rig. The trees block my satellite. The turns in the road are too tight. The utilities are located in the wrong place. YIKES!!

There is no possible way to make each and every camper....happy.

I pity the campground/RV park owner, and often wonder where they find the patience to persevere each day. But I'm thankful that they do.

[hotpepperkid]

dewey02 wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:
Unless there is something I don't know about, most trees take 30 - 50 years to mature. Pretty hard to anticipate what the needs of RVs will be in 2068.
Design of parks is almost entirely dependent on the topography and unique features of the site. Flat, level sites with straight wide roads might be easy to construct in a Kansas cornfield. Not as easy to carve those features out of the side of a mountain. Placing utilities in the ideal spot isn't always possible. Sometimes that would require removing a 200 year old tree or blasting thru 50 feet of granite.
Personally, I don't want exact uniformity in much of anything other than McDonalds.

X2 on the above. From the standpoint of public campgrounds, many of these were constructed 50 or more years ago, when a lot of camping was tent camping. They have been "modernized" since then, with various amenities added, but the overall layout is difficult or impossible to change do to topography, etc and so remains the same.

And there are many ideas that go into campground design that are done SPECIFICALLY to regulate what the camper does or can do. Rather than posting a sign with numerous "Don't do this, don't do that" signs everywhere, the campground is designed to prevent, or at least discourage the unwanted use. Many of these design elements never occur to the average user, and there have been many posts on this website with people saying things like "Why do they do this, it makes it hard for me to do X." Well they did it that way on purpose, because they don't want you doing X.

It doesnt take a 60 ft tree your not providing shade for a house. A 15 to 20 foot tree will do just fine for an RV and it doesnt take 30 to 50 yrs to grow a 20 ft tree.

[Mbiviano]

X2 on the low hanging branches. My rig gets enough damage from the roads. We are typically "travelers" just passing through places and just want a easy in/out, flat spot with convenient hookups. Want to be on our way to the real attractions.

[2oldman]

camp-n-family wrote:
Posts, rocks, trees etc are always in the wrong places. .

Tree maintenance seems to be a low priority. I do as much looking at Z as much as X and Y. Nothing like low-hanging branches to really piss me off.

[dedmiston]

camp-n-family wrote:
They seem to be designed by someone who has never towed anything. Posts, rocks, trees etc are always in the wrong places. For example, something we encounter a lot are sites that are advertised to fit a 40'TT but is limited to 20' because they put the number post right on the corner of the site entrances.

I think that my least favorite so far is the Circus Circus RV Park in Las Vegas. Besides being an all-around dump, they planted little palms around the pedestals. I don't know the names of the palms, but they're the kind with the stickers on the fronds. There was no way to hook up the connections without getting bloody. Nice design!

[doxiemom11]

We have been in newer parks, or newly renovated parks where young trees have been planted way out at the end of the site and on both sides. The roads aren't extremely wide and tail swing is going to be an issue soon. If you turn too soon, you'll scrape the tree on the drivers side and if you wait, your tail end will get the tree on the passenger side. Why do they think that a 20' wide site with trees, or posts ( have seen the site marking posts there too) is gonna work.

[camp-n-family]

They seem to be designed by someone who has never towed anything. Posts, rocks, trees etc are always in the wrong places. For example, something we encounter a lot are sites that are advertised to fit a 40'TT but is limited to 20' because they put the number post right on the corner of the site entrances.