closed
The BoaVida Group
Mendocino County relies on tourism tax dollars to maintain its community - so it comes as a shock that residents and officials want to put a hold on tourism. Private RV parks and campgrounds are unable to operate due to restrictions in place.
“The benefit of RVing is they are in their own self-contained unit, and they don’t need to interact with anyone else. Unlike a hotel, this is probably the best way to social distance. It’s similar to a neighborhood with houses,” said Zach Weiner, head of RV park operations for BoaVida RV Parks and Resorts.
The current RV park restriction in Mendocino County is creating more harm than good. Many people live a remote lifestyle from their RV, or travel for work, but with private RV parks and campgrounds shut down, they are forced to park on the side of a highway or in the woods – with no hook ups or safe avenues to dispose of waste.
“The way COVID-19 has affected our RV parks varies drastically from state to state, county to county, and California is a great example,” Weiner said. “In Red Bluff, at Red Bluff RV Park, we have full-time and transient guests, and we’re fully booked. We are following CDC guidelines – closed the pool, employees wear masks, we’re doing extra cleaning – and we’ve had zero problems. We have two parks in Mendocino County, Fort Bragg Leisure Time RV Park and Mendocino Redwoods RV Resort (known as Willits KOA), that follow the same CDC guidelines, but the county has forced us to turn away all transient/monthly guests, except those deemed essential workers.”
On May 27, Dyana Kelley, president and CEO of CampCalNOW, sent a letter to Mendocino County Public Health Officer Dr. Noemi Doohan to share the additional health crisis this restriction has caused.
“Last weekend,” Kelley wrote, “Mendocino County encountered an onslaught of visitors who came grossly unprepared with regards to safety. Those in town arrived without masks, were not respecting distancing protocols as they gathered outside of establishments making it difficult to enter or exit and were offended when asked to comply. Those outside of town created unsafe and unsanitary conditions with illegal camping, dumping black water on the side of the road, human feces, toilet paper, and garbage left behind. This put the community residents and the tourists at odds. The tourists were upset, feeling singled out and unwelcome, and the locals were angry and frustrated with the lack of respect for their community. It is understandable for the locals to want to close the county to tourists, but this is an unreasonable and unsustainable solution. Without offering a meaningful interface between these two groups, it will remain a lose-lose situation.”
In addition to RVers unable to park and dispose of waste properly, the county is facing the equally serious issue of law enforcement terrorizing local businesses.
Weiner said BoaVida’s two parks in Mendocino County have been visited by police continuously, at random – sometimes every day or once a week – to check on them, and the experiences have been anything but amicable.
“We’re following the guidelines. They’ve been really aggressive toward staff; threatened to kick out tenants, in violation of tenancy laws; asking for tenant information to prove they’re essential workers, which we cannot release; and more,” Weiner said. “We’ve turned away hundreds of guests, most of which are now set up on the side of the highway because they have nowhere to go.”
Kelley said she doesn’t believe it was Doohan’s intention to create a formidable police state, but that is the current situation.
“Local law enforcement has shown up and patrolled private RV parks wearing flak jackets and carrying rifles. This is especially disconcerting to permanent residents and essential workers who reside in private parks,” she said. “Management of parks have been threatened with jail time bringing these ‘employees’ to tears and making them fearful of being in the community. In another park, officers instructed tenants to vacate the premises without warning (against specially occupancy law). In this case, the three RVers in question were members of the traveling medical community in the area for work, thus considered essential. The officer still proceeded to remove them from the park.”
Kelley recommended a solution to these issues – let private RV parks and campgrounds operate under CDC guidelines.
A benefit to Mendocino County with these businesses’ ability to operate is the amount of tourism tax dollars the county will collect. During this time last year, BoaVida RV Parks and Resorts, alone, paid $24,961,14 in Transient Occupancy Tax. In the entire year of 2019, they paid $79,129.21. That money in addition to all private RV parks and campgrounds in the county, is what keeps the community running and beautiful. Without those tax dollars, it will devastate the county as services will be cut and locals’ taxes will raise.
Doohan replied to Kelley’s letter and is interested in her feedback. Doohan plans to speak with the local council on the issues.