By: Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice

Chatham-Kent has agreed to take another look at keeping Clearville Park as a municipal asset.

The decision was reached at the July 27 meeting following a motion from South Kent Coun. Anthony Ceccacci. His motion asks administration to report back with options to increase the park’s financial viability in order to take the onus off taxpayer support.

Ceccacci, who had a recent tour of the park, told council he thinks Chatham-Kent has the potential to look at the asset and come up with a “more creative” approach.

“I think we can find some commonalities in the situation,” Ceccacci said, adding he agrees with C-K’s engineering and infrastructure team that, “if you don’t invest in an asset, you will lose the asset. So, I think it’s really important that we start to look at things differently. As a whole, there are a lot of individuals that feel that investing in nice-to-do things is not necessarily the best thing for our community. But I really think it’s important to do nice-to-do things, because our community deserves to be nice and valued.”

East Kent Coun. Morena McDonald expressed her support for Ceccacci’s motion, saying the park’s residents will appreciate the municipality exploring the Clearville matter further.

“It’s important to have a vision for the park in the future,” McDonald said.

In 1980, the 88.54-acre Clearville Park, located on Lake Erie south of Muirkirk, was purchased by the former Orford Township. It was opened to the public in 1984 and currently has 125 seasonal sites, 32 transient sites, a large wooded area, boat launch and washroom facilities. All seasonal lots are full, with 65 names on the wait list.

During 2025 budget deliberations, council had agreed to sell the park, divesting the property from Chatham-Kent’s portfolio.

But there’s been pushback against the idea of divesting Clearville. As part of the original sale agreement, individuals who donated or sold land stated ownership should revert back to them if Clearville ever changed hands.

Chatham-Kent was looking at divestment of the park as early as 2019, a staff report stated. It’s estimated the park needs $4.5-million in capital infrastructure spending to maintain it.

The idea of working with the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority to take over the park was also explored, but this was nixed in light of the substantial capital costs required.

Clearville Park lies outside Ceccacci’s Ward 2, however it is located within Ward 3, which Coun. McDonald’s represents.