Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Brevard County Florida camping fee changes

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Topic: Brevard County Florida camping fee changes

Posted By: Bandaid on 01/30/23 09:52am

Hello,

Very quietly, Brevard County Commissioners have restructured the camping fees at our County Park campgrounds. This apparently was due to complaints from county residents of not being able to reserve sites during the winter months, because of the extended stay "snowbirds"
The result was a raising of the basic camping fees by 200% now being $48. per day for a water and electric site. If you want full hookups, or a water view, you pay a premium fee on top of the daily fee!
Also, the length of stay has been dropped from 169 days to 90 days. All in all, this seems a bit excessive and I am a County Resident!. If I am going to have to pay a premium to get a full hookup site, I might as well go to a private campground and have more amenities!

Bandaid

Posted By: 2edgesword on 01/30/23 02:13pm

Bandaid wrote:

When is this supposed to go into effect? The website is still showing lower rates for residents...

Wickham Park Campground Rates

Posted By: tomman58 on 01/30/23 02:54pm

We stay in Fl all winter and have done so for years. Yes, it is snowbird time and your state make mega-millions by us being here. We stay in the less populated areas and drive to the others and put up with gobs of traffic and hour long waits for restaurants. Get over it, we don't like the higher costs for living the winter here but it is better than snow. Half of Canada is down here, surprised you aren't grieving that!

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Posted By: azdryheat on 01/30/23 03:31pm

If you're a county resident then why does your signature say Holcomb New York.

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Posted By: johnhicks on 01/30/23 03:58pm

That's a preposterous increase, at what point does it become "gouging."

I don't expect any locals will want to stay at those campgrounds which are non-resorts in non-resort areas for those prices. I won't be back. Watch for the county to close and sell those campgrounds in a year or two due to lack of use.

-jbh-

Posted By: wapiticountry on 01/30/23 04:16pm

Sounds like they actually have a bit further to go. Even with the rate increase the rate is below what the average private park charges. Allowing 90 day stays is still ridiculous, though not as ridiculous as the previous 5 1/2 months. No one person should be allowed to monopolize a public RV site for anywhere close to that long. 21 days would be my maximum.
Public parks, and their RV sites should be for use by everyone, not the lucky few who get through the reservation system and tie up sites for months at a time.

Posted By: johnhicks on 01/30/23 04:41pm

The rate is significantly above state parks, and these parks are definitely not in the class of most Florida state parks. Running off everyone isn't the solution.

Posted By: ferndaleflyer on 01/30/23 05:15pm

Politicians do as they please--I am involved in a situation where they raised the property tax on minerals 600% yet have not yet set the tax amount and won't until a month after the deadline to appeal. Now just how is that supposed to work?

Posted By: Scottiemom on 01/31/23 05:18am

I'm not sure raising the rate 200% is the answer to what they perceived to be a problem. That may just keep local residents from signing up. We used to camp at Wickham park but haven't now for years. It was due to the homeless, the dead bodies (yes, dead bodies) and inconsiderate campers, i.e., loud music, loud and profane yelling, etc. They had no restrictions on campers and one group would tow their motorhomes in because they wouldn't run. They all camped around the bathhouses and basically took them over to where you didn't even feel comfortable using the laundry.

What caused the most problem, in my estimation, was the 5+ months of camping. Rules weren't enforced and too many homeless. The changes they made to address that resulted in removing the habitat for many of the animals which we enjoyed seeing.

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Posted By: magnusfide on 01/31/23 10:16am

Bandaid wrote:

All in all, this seems a bit excessive and I am a County Resident!.
Bandaid

Bandaid: Your profile says you are not a resident of Brevard County but a resident of Holcomb, NY.

Scottiemom wrote:

Seems to me that those parks are being abused. Raising the rates may start to address it but it also needs enforcement to clear out the crime issue.

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Posted By: johnhicks on 01/31/23 03:32pm

Turns out Brevard County residents aren't participating in the rate increases, $27/day for them and $46/day for everyone else.

https://www.brevardfl.gov/ParksAndRecreation/Campgrounds/LongPointParkCampground/Rates

Posted By: Retired JSO on 02/01/23 11:00am

They should have dropped the stay time to 2 weeks like Fl state parks.

Posted By: 2edgesword on 02/01/23 11:03am

azdryheat wrote:

If you're a county resident then why does your signature say Holcomb New York.

Probably for the same reason mine does, we joined the forum while living in NY and got smart and moved to Florida.

Posted By: dedmiston on 02/01/23 11:39am

It's pretty easy to fix your location if you're interested:

https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/myforums/subaction/profile.cfm

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Posted By: Rice on 02/04/23 01:07pm

Bandaid wrote:

The result was a raising of the basic camping fees by 200% now being $48. per day for a water and electric site. If you want full hookups, or a water view, you pay a premium fee on top of the daily fee!

THEY DIDN'T RAISE THE BASIC CAMPING FEE BY 200%!

First of all, you say the new fee is $48. But there is no campground on their website that charges $48. There are three campgrounds, and the most expensive is Long Point, at $44 for a water/electric site. Not $48.

Here's an archived version of their website showing fees at Long Point in June of 2022:
Long Point rates in June 2022

A water/electric site was $28. Raising it to $44 is a 57% increase, not a 200% increase as you claim.

And the big increase is only for nonresidents. You, as a resident, will now pay $29.67 for a water/electric site at Long Point, up a whopping 6%.

johnhicks wrote:

Turns out Brevard County residents aren't participating in the rate increases, $27/day for them and $46/day for everyone else.

No, according to the link that you provided, for Long Point it's $29.67/day for residents, and $44/day for nonresidents. At Manatee Hammock, it's $27.55/day for residents (which is close to your "$27") but $41/day for nonresidents (which isn't close to your "$46"). So I'm not sure where you're getting your numbers.

I'm wondering if the OP just "heard" that rates were going up 200% and raced here to complain, and didn't actually verify anything. Particularly because the new pricing structure greatly favors county residents--residents' camping fees at Long Point went up by 6% while fees for non-residents went up by 57% (again, nowhere near 200%). County residents pay the same year-round, while non-residents pay more in-season than out-of-season. County residents can book up to 13 months in advance, while non-residents can book up to 12 months in advance. (I don't like that reservations might have to be made a year in advance, but at least there's a period where residents have the ability to book and non-residents don't.)

Bandaid wrote:

If I am going to have to pay a premium to get a full hookup site, I might as well go to a private campground and have more amenities!

For a full hookup site at Long Point, you'll add $2 to your resident rate of $29.67, for a total of $31.67. I've stayed at only half a dozen or so RV parks in Florida, and none in Brevard County, but on my latest swing through the state, I was consistently seeing rates of about $70 in December. So $31.67 looks like a real deal for a full hookup site.

Bandaid wrote:

Also, the length of stay has been dropped from 169 days to 90 days.

Actually, it was 168 days, not 169. See rule #6 here:
Long Point campground rules in June 2022

But what objection would a county resident have to a limit of 90 days per reservation? If I were a resident wanting to camp locally, I'd welcome that because it wouldn't affect me at all but might make it less attractive for long-term people (although 90 days probably will still work for a lot of snowbirds).

Posted By: zb39 on 02/15/23 12:57pm

I just got back from FL. Stayed 3 weeks in 3 different parks. Orlando KOA, Everglades RV park, Peacon grove RV park. 5 nights, 6 nights, 6 nights, other nights I was on the road at truck stops. Avg was around $102 a night. Went to Myrtle beach for 5 nights $60 a night. All 4 campgrounds were full hook up, 50 amp.
I was gone 4 weeks total. I know you can save a bunch by renting a site by the week or month. Not in the cards for me this time.

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Posted By: Bandaid on 03/04/23 05:42pm

When I posted about the increase in the Brevard County Camping fee's. the information I had was in a newspaper report of the County Commissioners meeting last month. To my knowledge, they have not updated the campground websites yet, as the snowbirds are still grandfathered in for this season, as well as those who had made reservations under the old fees. Please, before you flame me on reporting this, check out the County Commissioners minutes. People who were camped at Hammock Landing went to the meeting and voiced their displeasure. The County Commissioners voted in the new rates at either their October, or November meeting.

Posted By: Deb and Ed M on 03/05/23 08:36am

Scottiemom wrote:

I think raising the rates and shortening the length-of-stay would really help clean up some of the county parks like Wickham. We live close enough to that park that we visit there often; but I'm not sure I'd want to camp there due to stories of what goes on after dark. Also - blaming Snowbirds is a favorite hobby in FL, it seems....LOL! Much easier than addressing long-term problems....

Posted By: Lantley on 03/05/23 01:48pm

In the end FL residents are pointing the finger at the outsiders hoping that eliminating outsiders will make more sites available.
However its tough to get sites in my state and we do not have a huge influx of outsiders. WE also have state income tax!
If tourism is your game than outsiders are part of the equation. Eliminating outsiders may send FL. down a slippery slope.
At the end of it all don't think the policy will improve CG access. THere are simply not enough sites to meet demand with or without out of state campers.

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Posted By: johnhicks on 03/05/23 06:22pm

Snowbirds will simply go to south Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas etc. They're not obligated to go to Florida, and those state are less expensive.

You'll still find every site reserved every weekend year-round in Florida. The difference will be that parks are empty Monday through Thursday.

Posted By: Scottiemom on 03/11/23 02:15pm

Deb and Ed M wrote:

Scottiemom wrote:

I drove through there 2 weeks ago when I was staying with my granddaughter. They have removed so much of the "woods" behind the campsites that there is nothing between the camp and the parking lot for the college behind it. You used to have a feeling of being out in the wild, but now you are basically in a parking lot. And the lights from the game fields was bright before. . . must light up your site like daylight. They have ruined this park for campers who like peace and quiet. I will never stay there again.

Dale

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