Stokes-Thomas Lake City Park to "Expand" Camping Capacity for 2026 Season
- Steve Jurrens
- Apr 6
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 7
Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - Watertown’s city-owned lakeside retreat is set for an upgrade this summer following the City Council’s unanimous approval on Monday night to expand camping capacity at Stokes-Thomas Lake City Park.
The move, part of a change order for the ongoing drainage project at the park, will add a dozen or more campsites to the facility.
The decision came as part of Item 10D, an approval of Change Order No. 1 for the Stokes-Thomas Lake City Park drainage project (Project 2528). The Council authorized an additional $57,117.47 to the contract with Level Contracting LLC, bringing the total project cost to approximately $136,000.
City Manager Alan Stager informed the Council that the opportunity to expand the project arose because initial bids for the drainage work came in substantially under the city’s original budget estimates.
“We were substantially below the budget level in the bids that we had received back,” Stager explained during the meeting. “Staff has taken the opportunity to address some of the questions that were raised at a prior council meeting and have confirmed with the project engineer as well as the contractor that the system, as designed, is believed to be the right solution.”
Currently hosting 63 standard campsites and a handful of full-hookup spots and cabins, the expansion represents a roughly 20% increase in the park’s available inventory for tent and RV travelers due to the increase in land surface from the drainage project.
Beyond the sheer increase in capacity, Stager highlighted the fiscal stewardship behind the timing of the expansion. By adding the campsites to the existing contract, the city is saving on mobilization costs that would have been higher if the work were bid as a standalone project in the future.
“Ordinarily, if we push this off to another year, we wouldn’t receive the same prices since we already have a contractor mobilizing for two-thirds of the project,” Stager noted.
The Council emphasized a firm timeline for the work. The contractor is under a “hard end date” of May 31, 2026, to complete both the drainage improvements and the paving of the new areas. This deadline ensures that the park will be fully operational and that the new spots will be available for the majority of the summer camping season, including the city’s signature “Cookin’ on Kampeska” festival in July.
With the unanimous “aye” from the Council, Level Contracting LLC is expected to continue work immediately to meet the end-of-May deadline.
