County approves Prospect RV park

Sanders County Commissioners last week approved a planned RV campground project by the Wild Coyote Saloon. The site is being called Prospect Creek Camping and RV and will be located on the Wild Coyote Saloon property about seven miles up Highway 471 outside of Thompson Falls. The proposed park will surround the saloon itself and will include 15 RV campsites with full hookups, five cabins and 19 campsites without hookups. The commissioners approved the project on April 20, but with conditions. Some of these included removing several dilapidated structures on the property, adding some special trails to the river from the campsites and working around the Yellowstone Pipeline.

Commissioners held a public hearing on the proposed RV park earlier this month. At that April 13 hearing, some members of the public criticized the project.The most notable criticism came from Paul Walker, who was concerned that only adjacent properties were notified about the project. Walker commented that he lives downstream from the property and was worried that should the area flood, the creek could be contaminated by the numerous RV septic dump units that are to be placed on the property, or by the septic drain field, positioned about 200 feet away from the riverbank. He talked about a time that Prospect Creek flooded several years before. According to Walker, the flooding did significant damage to the road and houses along the river. He then displayed pictures of the damage to the commissioners and some of the other community members. The owners of the Wild Coyote Saloon were present and were also shown the photographs. Walker mentioned that the water test done by the project was done last year, “when Prospect Creek was very low, one of the lowest years I can remember.” Walker ended his comment by saying the tests may not prove useful as “Prospect can change.”

Another member of the community to comment was Eve Stuckey, who expressed concerns about several of the buildings on the property being eyesores. Karen Ferguson, one of the owners of the Wild Coyote Saloon, mentioned that they are in the process of removing many of the buildings and have torn down several already. Commissioner Tony Cox then posed a motion to include a condition where several of the dilapidated buildings are to be removed. The motion passed.

Ray Brown, from the Sanders County Community Development Corporation (SCCDC), expressed that the new RV park was a necessity for the community. “We know what’s coming: the traffic and the people,” said Brown. “If people don’t have somewhere to go, they will go where they want to.” Brown spoke of the community needing a dump area desperately because of the likely flood of people he mentioned. He also said that having better infrastructure prepared could be fortuitous. According to Brown, an RV park of this suggested size would be good for the economy as well. Brown mentioned that the jobs this could bring in could amount to over $70,000 in total salaries.

According to Ferguson the project has been in the works for three or four years. “It has been a huge undertaking,” said Ferguson, who added that everyone she and co-owner Kevin Bush have dealt with have been easy to work with, except for some locals. Ferguson said the only hostile pushback has come from a few people in the area. Ferguson said the Wild Coyote has been accused of everything from throwing trash into the creek to falsifying their percolation test. Ferguson was also concerned at the amount of hostility against the structures, as she said all of them were on the property prior and the Wild Coyote is currently working to remove them or bring them up to code. Ferguson said, “This is the perfect spot to provide a clean and safe space for people to camp and enjoy nature,” and “Ray Brown hit the nail right on the head.”

The Wild Coyote is now working on designs for vaulted toilets, and will start on the primitive camping areas first. Planning continues on the portion of the RV park that will include hookups.