“Swinger” club owners appeal county’s campout stop order
A couple in Division 2 appealed a stop order prohibiting campouts on their property, arguing their parties in Beaver Creek Estates are private functions and not part of their swingers’ club in Edmonton.
However, Beaver County’s Development Authority disagreed, stating Joe and Cindy Ancic’s weekend campouts were part of their 4-Play Lifestyle Club. As proof, the county included photos of the campouts on the Ancic property taken off the 4-Play club’s website.
The stop order stated: “We consider the use of the property, either as a campground or as an extension of the 4-Play Lifestyle Club…to be a recreation use or other non-residential use classification in our Land Use Bylaw. Accordingly, you are hereby ordered to stop the unauthorized development and use of the aforementioned lands and the buildings for the campouts and otherwise comply with the land use bylaw, immediately and on a permanent basis.”
The appeal board hearing took place in Ryley on Thursday, Aug. 13. The formal address for the property in question is Plan 782 2988, Block 4, Lot 5 in NE 27-50-20-W4 and is zoned Country Residential in Beaver Creek Estates.
Margaret Jones, assistant county CAO, gave the county’s Development Authority report to the appeal board. She said the county has received “many complaints” over several years about the owners’ camping and organized parties on summer weekends.
There were complaints about parking, campers driving through the subdivision, unauthorized camping in a residential area, noise, and parking in the ditches and along the roads.
“Some have complained that the use is not appropriate because the activities are affiliated with the 4-Play Lifestyle Club,” she said, adding that the county had been monitoring the situation. “The landowners have previously assured the enforcement officers that the activities were private parties.”
However, the situation changed when the county saw the club’s webpage, that it says establishes a link between the two activities. The 4-Play webpage showed photos of the campouts and stated there would be a $25 charge per person per day to attend them.
This charge was the key for the county, which indicated “that the property was being used for purposes that require a development permit,” and that “the weekend campouts are an organized event related to or originating from the 4-Play Lifestyle Club.”
The county was able to download pages from the 4-Play website before they were removed, and included them in their report with the attached “warning graphic content.”
Read more in the August 18 edition of the Tofield Mercury, on newsstands now!
Patricia Harcourt
Editor
