La Broquerie’s Community Development Corporation is interested in building a new campground.

CDC Project Manager Richard Turenne presented this vision to La Broquerie Council on Wednesday and was met with some interest.

As La Broquerie continues to grow in both population and popularity, Turenne feels that a new campground is essential in dealing with the needs of an expanding community.

“We host a lot of activities in La Broquerie,” notes Turenne, “so there are a lot of little elements causing people to want to stay overnight. Right now, there are no places for them to stay.”

Turenne is not suggesting the creation of extravagant facilities providing all kinds of amenities, he merely feels the community would do well to offer this additional service.

As for the proposed location, Turenne hopes the RM will agree to share some of their land assets for this project, as they have done in the past.

Turenne believes that Tétrault Park has many facilities conducive to a future campground.

“The municipality and the CDC have been working together for several years in shared-use land,” explains Turenne. “Last year we put in the outdoor fitness part on municipal land and this year’s ask is to use the acreage east of the arena.”

In Turenne’s ideal world, Council would agree on setting aside part of Tétrault Park for the future site of this campground.

According to Turenne, there are all kinds of reasons that the park would make a good location. The land has a creek running through it, some orchards, a few trails, and a nearby picnic area. On top of that, Turenne believes they could retrofit the existing washrooms near the baseball diamonds to be more suitable for campers, rather than building up from the ground. 

Turenne says buildings like this one could be converted and used by the campground.

Though he believes the area has a lot to offer, Turenne admits that the campground's intentions are not making huge amounts of money. “I don’t think this is a million dollar idea like the St. Malo Park,” he states, “and like most infrastructure initiatives, your startup costs are going to be high and you have to envision the long term outcomes.” Still, he believes this project would eventually recover its own costs while at the same time fill a growing need within the community.

This idea makes sense to Turenne, but he now awaits a move from Council before the next steps can be taken.