Tulare County Supervisors abolish park entrance fees
Beginning on July 1, visitors will no longer have to pay to enter a Tulare County park.
At its April 1 meeting, Tulare County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to eliminate the entrance fees for all county-run parks, while revising the fee structure for park amenities.
'Hard to believe, but parks' fees have remained unchanged since 2019,' said Brooke Sisk, director of the Tulare County General Services Agency. 'We planned to update them every other year, but they were delayed in part due to COVID, but also intentionally when park improvements received a major amount of funding from your board through ARPA (the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021) and other county funds.
'It is essential to update the fees to improve accessibility and affordability, standardize fees across all parks, introduce new fees for new amenities, align with regional standards while remaining reasonable, recover a portion of costs to support operations and ensure fairness and transparency,' she said.
Entrance fees are currently being charged at four county parks on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from March to October.
'They present significant operational challenges, including staffing, cash handling, and traffic delays, to name a few,' Sisk said. 'We recommend eliminating entrance fees, including bus entrance fees, annual park passes, and Balch Park's day-use fees.
'This change will not only improve efficiency, but encourage greater park usage and reduce financial barriers for the community,' she added.
The fee changes include standardizing arbor rental fees at all parks, based on their capacity.
Small arbors, which can accommodate 10-30 people, will be $50 to reserve. Medium (40-75) will be $70, large (144) will be $100, and extra-large (250-450) will be $135.
A $50 fee will be charged for sports facilities, including soccer, baseball, and softball fields, and basketball courts. Horseshoe pit reservation fees will be lowered from $25 to $10 due to their lower maintenance needs.
Reservation fees for the new stand-alone picnic tables, benches, and grills that are separate from arbors will be $25.
A new $200 base fee will be charged for organized running events. Additional charges may apply if there are other impacted amenities.
The $100 tournament fee at any of the seven-disc golf courses will be changed to a $100 per course per day fee with potential additional charges for any impacted amenities.
Vendor permits will be adjusted to simplify the process and ensure compliance with state law.
The current $30 commercial vendor fee will become a $50 single-day vendor fee, 'consolidating multiple existing permits, DJ band, special event vendor, and non-special event vendor permits,' according to Sisk.
A new $325 annual fee for year-round vendors will allow unlimited access to all parks and simplify compliance checks.
The varying camping fees at Balch Park for tents, RVs, and for seniors or disabled visitors will all become $25.
The pier reservation fee at newly reopened Bartlett Park will be $200 a day.
A $5 per day dove hunting fee will be charged at Kings River Park, and the park will be limited to 20 hunters per day.
The cost to rent the Boy Scout Cabin and Pillar Square at Mooney Grove Park will double to $200 per site per day.
An event overnight stay permit, allowing hosts to stay in self-contained campers, will cost $150 per vehicle per event, which includes a $30 refundable gate lock deposit.
The approved proposal also includes a $92,000 parks budget increase and a $13,000 increase for Tulare County Museum in Mooney Grove Park.
In response to a question from Supervisor Amy Shuklian, Sisk clarified that if a group wants to visit a county park to play basketball on the court or to use another sports amenity, there is no fee.
'All of the reservations are to ensure that it's available,' Sisk explained. 'That doesn't mean that someone can't show up and use these amenities, but there's no guarantee that it will be available unless they make a reservation.'
She added that members of the public can also use amenities such as a standalone picnic table and grill as long as they are not reserved.
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Tulare County parks free to enter starting July 1 after fees abolished
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