Deciding whether or not to allow for primitive camping in FMC Park is an issue the council will have revisit.
During the last Green River City Council workshop, the Council gave its approval for several groups to start looking into the possibility of camping in FMC Park.
Gary Wolfe, who was representing the Green River Greenbelt Task Force, Green River Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and Sweetwater Mountain Biking Association, asked the council for permission to explore camping options for FMC Park.
Wolfe said the groups are only looking at a couple of areas to have the paid primitive camping sites, including the south side of Scott’s Bottom.
The city received grant funding to explore the camping issue. The goal is to capitalize on what Green River has to offer, which includes biking, hiking and canoeing or kayaking down the Green River, Wolfe said.
According to Wolfe, these primitive campsites will be between 4 and 6 feet and will be for tent camping only. Days of stay will also be limited, but a time hasn’t been determined. Open fires will not be allowed at these sites, but those who are staying at the site can use a cooking stove.
Green River Police Chief Chris Steffen said, in the past, local Boy Scout troops have asked permission to camp in these areas and were granted permission to do so. They have not had any problems with the Scouts camping down there in the past.
Currently, the city has an ordinance against camping within city limits, however the city can grant camping requests.
Steffen said the only issue that has come up is with interoffice communication between the city departments. He said a couple of times it wasn’t relayed to the GRPD that the Boy Scouts would be camping at FMC Park, which caused the officers confusion when they discovered Boy Scouts in the park.
Councilmen Ted Barney, Gary Killpack and Brett Stokes were all in favor of the groups exploring the possibility of FMC Park camping.
However, Councilman Mark Peterson said he didn’t want the camping to feather out from FMC Park and cause problems.
He also had concerns about the camping taking business away from local hotels and motels.
Wolfe said the people who are going to be using these campsites are usually tent camping while traveling and will not be using hotels, motels or even big RV campground sites.
Once the exploration of the tent camping is completed, the council will review the findings and make a decision.
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