Mozingo Advisory Board discusses policies

The Mozingo Advisory Board recently discussed possible improvements and policy changes to be implemented after peak season ends.

Assistant City Manager Ryan Heiland suggested implementing a survey to all current campers as well as emailing a survey to past campers asking about park improvements and what they think staff could do to make Mozingo better.

Some discussion revolved around improving RV sites and adding additional sites. Staff stated campers don’t always realize that RV spots 68-75 are camping spots because the area looks like a parking lot.

Staff provided the board with data showing the reservable sites were 88 to 100 percent booked during peak season weekends compared to 61 to 97 percent of weekends in the first-come first-serve locations.

Board member Ed Higdon voiced the opinion there need to be more reservable spots. He feels campers are opting for other venues because they don’t want to take the risk of not getting a camping spot on the first-come first-serve sites.

There was discussion about changing some of the first-come first-serve sites into reservable sites and there was discussion about building additional new sites in the reserved area.

Heiland did state the park would have access to asphalt millings from the City of Maryville’s asphalt project this summer that could be used to create new driveways if additional sites were built, saving on costs.

Other suggestions for improvements were better playground equipment and a dog park.

No official vote was taken, but there was verbal agreement to allow Heiland to start creating a survey, compiling data.

Heiland asked the board for input on changing the 4th of July event to a summer festival, holding it at a different time of year. He stated it was difficult to find staff willing to work the holiday weekend and they had to pay staff time and a half to work the event. He also noted some years, the holiday falls in the middle of the week, making it hard to draw large crowds.

By creating a summer festival instead, Heiland thinks it will allow service organizations to host events, helping to share in the work load as well as drawing a larger crowd. Some ideas included setting the festival for the weekend before or after the 4th of July or moving it to another date in the summer.

Maintenance staff has not hauled much rip rap this year, most of their time and efforts were spent working on the conference center. Board members stressed that laying rip rap needed to stay at the top of the priority list for the health of the lake.

This summer, staff plans to create some access roads to the hard-to-reach locations of the lake in order to lay rip rap this winter.