Violations close 115-year-old campground
FARMLAND — A campground to which Muncie fishermen and campers flocked on weekends is closing after being sued by the state health department for alleged health and safety violations.
"It boils down to state inspectors have run me out of business," says Richard Waters, owner of Three Waters Campground, which he notes has been a recreation site for 115 years.
Rather than defend the lawsuit, Waters plans to close the campground that includes a fishing pond, the White River, Sparrow Creek, about three dozen wooded camp sites, an office, playground and restrooms.
"The Indiana State Department of Health enforces rules that protect the health and safety of Hoosiers who use campgrounds throughout Indiana," spokesman Ken Severson told The Star Press. "When ISDH found serious violations at Three Waters Campground, the agency tried to obtain correction and compliance informally, by working with the owner. Those efforts failed, so ISDH performed its legal duty and sought compliance through administrative proceedings. ISDH never ordered Three Waters Campground to close.That decision was made solely by the owner."
According to the lawsuit filed in Randolph County Circuit Court, the violations included an improperly designed/constructed sanitary dumping station; a substandard wastewater disposal system; electrical cables lacking conduit; electrical service attached to rotten or unstable supports and lacking insulation; a leaky water riser; scattered trash/junk including used appliances and piles of old windows; garbage staged for apparent burning in a fire ring; containers trapping stagnant water serving as breeding sites for mosquitoes; garbage cans lacking lids; and lack of rubber mulch or other surface below playground equipment.
The campground's most recent reviews on Facebook were mixed.
Some called it "a great getaway," "peaceful and quiet," a "great place to fish and sit back in your own little world," 'the best place around by far" and a "beautiful lake and campground" where "I have caught some of the biggest fish of my life." Others complained that "we took it on ourselves to try and clean the restrooms … and emptied some trash cans" and "you have to mow your own camp lot and the restrooms are so dirty your friends and family can't use them."
The campground was "a fixer upper" when Waters bought it six years ago, he said. It was overgrown. The lake was scummy.
"We spent $50,000 on upgrades," he said. "The stuff I was fixing didn't happen in the last two years. It happened in the last 20 to 50 years. There had been no upkeep. I wanted to fix it up. The inspector I had for the first four years never told me anything to fix. Never one thing. And then he retired and a new inspector came out and basically hit me for a bunch of stuff, hammered me. I fixed them, and he came back again and threw more stuff at me."
He said the campground has been there for 115 years. Besides fishing and camping, its uses during that time have included ice skating and a speakeasy, Waters said.
It was not uncommon on weekend nights for the site to draw 300 people, mostly from Muncie, when campfires would flicker around the lake.
Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834.