TEXAS — Almost 400 youth camps across Texas are reviewing their safety plans and procedures, determining what changes need to happen to be fully compliant with the new camp safety laws passed by the state Legislature.
The measures, Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 1, came after several camps along the Guadalupe River, most notably Camp Mystic, suffered extensive damage and lost many young campers during the Fourth of July floods.
“We’re welcome to new laws and things to make that happen,” said Gary Sirkel, the executive director at Lake Lavon Camp in Princeton, located just north of Dallas.
Lake Lavon Camp and Conference Center has been operating for 75 years, kicking off its summer sessions in 1951.
“Usually in the summer, there’s blobs and other inflatable activities out here that the kids just absolutely love. Sixty-foot slide, we call that the baptizer — they love that, come flying off that,” he said, overlooking a man-made pool that over 5,000 campers enjoy each year.
According to Sirkel, while the sessions are on the shorter side, either three or four nights, his camp is more affordable than others.
“Our most expensive camp is $225,” he said.
Behind every slide, cabin and camper are rules, a binder full of them.
“How we handle medical needs, how we operate our water activities — every aspect of how we operate is covered in that,” he said, flipping through tabs of rules established by the Department of State Health Services. “And we’re going to be adding to that significantly, is what I expect.”
The property is located over 300 miles away from the Texas Hill Country, the epicenter of where the floods’ damage hit most. The different locations cause Sirkel to be hesitant that the statewide policy passed by the Legislature may not be the best approach for all camps across the state.
“We all operate very, very differently, between our operations, our scope, the populations we serve, the topography,” he said.
For example, by next summer, youth camps along a river will have to remove any cabins within a floodplain. Sirkel doesn’t have that concern, with his property sitting along Lavon Lake. SB 1, also known as the “Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act,” distinguishes a still body of water versus a moving body of water, like the Guadalupe River, and how camps need to proceed depending on the landscape.
However, other provisions in the law, like mandatory fiber optic connection, leave camps like his at a standstill.
“End-to-end, it’s simply prohibitive for a lot of camps. It’s not available, and if it is available, it’s cost prohibitive — it costs hundreds of thousands to a million dollars to have that,” he said.
The cost of even licensing their facility is soaring as well.
“[It] went from $464 a year to $10,600,” he said.
Sirkel estimates the total cost will exceed $100,000.
“When we formed our budget last year, we had no idea. This wasn’t on our radar,” he said. “With an organization that runs as lean as we do, in order to provide an accessible, low-cost experience to these students — it’s pretty frustrating.”
Sirkel fears that the high jump in costs could cause potential staffing cuts, delays to other projects on the grounds, and, in the worst case, an increase in the cost to families.
“We’re going to figure out a way — we’re resilient. That’s part of being in the camping industry. We’re resilient, we’re creative, and we find a way to make things work,” he said.