WELLFLEET — The town is now accepting bids for the operation of Maurice’s Campground on Route 6 during the six-year transitional period before construction begins on an affordable housing development at the site.
Wellfleet officials decided to lease the 21-acre property rather than have the town attempt to run the campground itself. They hope to find an experienced campground management company to operate the business seasonally for an initial term of three years, with the option of extending the lease for another three.
The bidding period will close on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. The winning bidder will be announced on Feb. 21, and the lease will begin on March 1. A site walk for prospective bidders will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 11 a.m.
The tight timeline was decided after a September town meeting approved the $6.5 million purchase from the Gauthier brothers, whose family had owned the campground since 1949. In the purchase agreement, the Gauthiers stipulated that the town must continue operating the campground to provide housing for 60 to 80 seasonal workers.
The campground includes 168 full-hookup and 46 partial-hookup trailer sites, 16 campsites, 5 cabins, 4 cottages, a store, and one year-round home. The management company will also be responsible for maintenance and repairs of up to $5,000, according to the town’s request for proposal (RFP). Repairs costing more than $5,000 will be the town’s responsibility.
The lessee will also be required to rent at least 26 camper units for workforce housing, according to the RFP.
The outsourcing of the campground’s operations comes at a time when Wellfleet is struggling to resolve staffing shortages and get the state to certify its free cash account, which is reported to have between $1 million and $3 million.
“We’re just happy to have some revenue coming in,” said Town Administrator Rich Waldo, “and to have someone else manage the campground so that our very limited staffing doesn’t have to scramble to try to make Maurice’s Campground operable.”
According to Waldo, the money that will come in from leasing the property will go towards paying for capital improvements at the campground during the six years it is leased.
Waldo predicts that the bids will be between $150,000 and $250,000 per year. In the Sept. 10 town meeting warrant booklet, officials estimated the campground’s operating expenses in fiscal 2023 at $225,000. Any surplus revenue from leasing the campground will go towards offsetting the borrowing required for its purchase, said Waldo.
Assistant Town Administrator Rebecca Roughly said that the town had so far received seven requests for bid specifications, including from three property management corporations: Mill Point Properties, Kampgrounds of America, and BA Services Inc. The town had not yet received any completed proposals, she said.
Waldo has assembled a committee of six people — himself, Roughly, DPW Director Jay Norton, and three members of the public — to review the proposals and decide on a winning bidder.
Applicants must have at least three years of campground management experience, said Roughly. The proposals will be rated on the amount of management experience bidders demonstrate.
The winning bidder must also have liability, property, and workers’ compensation insurance.
Running the campground will also mean managing the 35 cesspools on the property. Cesspools are defined as “failed systems” that must be upgraded to Title 5 systems upon transfer of ownership. But until the town is ordered to upgrade them by the Dept. of Environmental Protection, the cesspools “will operate under pre-existing use,” Waldo said.
The RFP states that the management company will be responsible for pumping out all cesspools at the end of each summer season “and additionally during the summer as needed or directed by the Board of Health or DEP.”
It also states that the Town has the right to terminate the lease at any time if the DEP requires the Town to undergo “cost-prohibitive upgrades” to the wastewater system to continue campground operations.
The monthly testing of two wells on the property has shown that the water quality at the campground has not been degraded. The town will continue monthly testing, said Waldo.
Waldo hopes that the short window in which the campground will be operable will not deter management companies from applying. “It might be a turnoff for some that this is at most a six-year operation,” he said. “But others might look at it as a good opportunity, because there is a potential to make a profit.”
