Deadline Arrives For Chouteau Bend RV Park Evictions

Wednesday was the deadline for residents at Chouteau Bend Recreational Area to move out, but many of their trailers are still there.

Last month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers posted eviction notices at the Mayes County park.

6/29/2016 Related Story: Eviction Notices Leave Chouteau Bend Residents Searching For New Home

Since then, there has been a big effort to get everything moved out of the park.  

"And I think I'm the only one left up here in the front," resident Kim Hackeirth said.

Hackeirth still doesn't know where she'll go.

"I can't sell mine like these people can because it's all I've got," she said. "It's my home."

The Corps of Engineers first thought it would close the park and maybe open it as a day use area, but they found a person willing to take it on and make it an RV park again.  

The new manager says there are a lot of repairs left over from both the flood and overlooked maintenance but he's planning to reopen as "Chouteau Bend Resort" - with 100 full RV hookups available for people to stay up to two weeks - but no longer.

"Once we get the trailers all moved out, we'll go through there and do the whole cleanup phase. A lot of the movers are leaving stuff for me to get and finish picking up so we'll get that moved and bring in electricians and plumbers and upgrade everything we need to upgrade," manager Brian Rostron said.

He says it is going to take a couple of weeks to get everything moved out. Rostron hopes to reopen the first section of the RV park in 90 days, and the whole park by next spring.