The County of Grande Prairie is going forward with improvements to the Bear Lake Campground for the upcoming season. During the March 27th meeting, county council approved adding power to the 11 existing campsites along with installing a personal watercraft dock. The cost of the enhancements is $169,298, which will be paid using funds council has previously approved.
Discussion about making these improvements to the Bear Lake Campground for the 2023 season started during the February 16th Committee of the Whole. The original proposal was for eight new powered pull-through sites to be added to the campground, along with a watercraft dock which included a kayak launch. The originally proposed updates were estimated to cost $241,200, with a request going forward to council for an additional $71,932 in capital funding. Council tabled the request to a future council meeting during the February 27th meeting.
Following council tabling the original request, county administration presented updated information for the campground improvements during the March 16th Committee of the Whole meeting. This information led to council recommending administration pursue adding the now-approved enhancements, while also exploring updates for future seasons. Administration also was directed to look into the process of obtaining a license to install a weir on Bear Lake for future discussion.