Ponderosa State Park in McCall could soon have more public beach access to Payette Lake.
In the late 1990s, the Department of Parks and Recreation purchased about three and a half acres of land from a Nazarene Church Group near Kokanee Cove. The church used the area for a camp and had several buildings on the property, most of which have been demolished but two remain.
Up until recently, the department had leased the property out but the lease is up. Now, the department plans to install rental cabins and a restroom on the beachfront area of the land.
“Those two buildings will now be looked at this summer to see their feasibility to keep around and maybe potentially renovate, as well as putting some additional camping cabins up in that space for the general public,” Park Manager Matt Linde said.
Preliminary plans also include installing a new road into Kokanee Cove off of the main road into Ponderosa State Park. Around 100 trees will be logged this fall along the proposed road to salvage healthy trees from Douglas-fir bark beetles.
This summer, Linde said architects will survey the property and start putting together a plan. He added that construction could start as early as 2024.
The department has set aside $2.5 million for the Kokanee Cove project, but with construction costs going up, Linde said the project would likely “exceed” that amount. He said they will find additional funding in the coming years. Linde said the majority of the $2.5 million is coming from American Rescue Plan funding and matched money from the department.
At Kokanee Cove, a building that currently serves as seasonal housing would likely come down. To replace it, a new four-bedroom building for seasonal rangers would go up.
There is also a plan to upgrade the Visitor Center bathrooms, including converting one stall into an ADA-accessible bathroom.
Additionally, right after Labor Day, the parks department will continue with planned water and power upgrades in Blackberry Loop.
The 1,515-acre park sees around 2,500 visitors on any weekend during the summer. Linde says that visitors will not have access to the new beach area during construction.
“While construction is going on, we just won’t allow folks up there to use that public beach because it’ll be a construction area,” Linde said.
