A Placer County campground lost its charm. Can it find new life as a resort?
A Placer County campground fallen into disrepair could become akin to a resort-style site with a pool, miniature golf course and pickleball courts.
In the 1970s, the Placer County Planning Commission approved a restaurant, motel, 144 camping sites and other amenities at a site in Cisco Grove within unincorporated Placer County. Once called the Rivers Edge Campground, the restaurant and motel went on to be closed and demolished. The approximately 47,000 annual visitors to the site declined over years after the campground repeatedly changed hands, according to a county staff report.
A new plan is moving forward after the Placer County Planning Commission approved a proposal Thursday for the property at 48415 Hampshire Rocks Road, just off Interstate 80. A hospitality company called Northgate Resorts bought the land in 2021 to build a campground for about 144 sites for pitching tents and RVs, according to a Northgate representative who appeared at the meeting.
The owners will renovate a guard house, welcome center and general store. The new amenities will include a 29,000-square foot swimming pool, 55,940-square-foot tubing hill, miniature golf course, paddle boat deck and more, according to a staff report.
Once open, campers will be able to use the site from mid-May to mid-October, which will also house full-time and seasonal employees. The amenities are only open to campers and are not open to the general public.
The 62-acre campground straddles the Placer-Nevada county line, with 30 acres in Placer County and 32 in Nevada County. The project would be only within the Placer County portion of the campground, according to the staff report.
Northgate Resorts did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
