City searching for entrepreneurs to lease prime beachfront land in Sault Ste. Marie
CBC
The site of a former campground and trailer park at Pointe Des Chenes in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., has become a hot topic in recent weeks as the city searches for an entrepreneur or developer to lease the land.
Residents in the area have taken to social media to voice their opinions on what they want to see fill the sandy space, regarded by many as a prime piece of property in northeastern Ontario.
At 11 hectares in size, the city-owned vacant plot is situated along the St. Marys River and adjacent to the public park and beach area at Pointe Des Chenes — just a few minutes from the Sault Airport.
The former campground had been operated by the Lions Club of Sault Ste. Marie since 1985 before it closed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
For the next three months, city officials are inviting entrepreneurs and businesses interested in leasing the land to submit proposals for what they would like to establish there.
“It can be anything they want to promote and activate the space,” said Brent Lamming, the city’s deputy chief administration officer. “It could be a resort, a spa — anything they think would compliment the space.”
Some suggestions from the public online have included a dog-friendly beach, housing developments or leaving it as a nature preserve.
Others have expressed their doubts around the city selecting an option that would be open and affordable to the public while respecting the environment.
But many have called for the area to return to being a campground.
That includes Cam Pucci, a retired Sault College instructor who camped at Pointe Des Chenes with his family in the early 1990s.
He said the site was one of many spots in the area where families could set up their trailer for a weekend at an affordable rate.
But today, Pucci said the number of campground sites has dwindled.
“There are numerous families in the Sault and surrounding area who would love to camp but can’t get into the few remaining campgrounds within our vicinity,” he said. “With a lot of people not going into the States now, they’re really limited as to where to camp.”
“It would attract tourism as a lot of people would bring their trailers, stay there and spend some time and money in the city itself.”
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