YMCA’s Camp Fox shut out of Catalina

GLENDALE — All hopes for the Glendale YMCA striking a lease agreement with the Catalina Island Conservancy for Camp Fox have been squashed, officials said.

Conservancy officials told YMCA officials earlier this week that they would not be continuing talks, despite a donor having stepped forward for the YMCA and offering to pay the $1.2 million in repairs for a failed septic system at the campsite, said Larry Miller, a member on the Glendale YMCA’s board of directors.

“There is nothing new here,” Miller said. “We’ve had challenges but we’ve tried to get through them.”

The two organizations had an hour-long telephone conference on Sept. 12 to discuss some of the issues regarding the lease, YMCA Chief Executive Officer John Thomas said, adding that he had hoped the conservancy would reconsider its decision.

But a telephone call made to Thomas earlier this week proved differently.

“The conservancy said, ‘Thank you, but no thank you. We don’t not want to continue talking to you,’” Thomas said.

Conservancy officials — who could not be reached for comment Friday — announced on Sept. 7 that for the first time in more than 80 years, they would not be renewing a lease with the YMCA for Camp Fox.

YMCA officials had until Sept. 6 to accept the terms of a letter of intent issued by the conservancy, which owns the property. But instead of accepting those terms, YMCA officials told the conservancy that they wanted to keep discussions going.

The conservancy wanted to move on.

Camp Fox supporters had been hoping that the Sept. 12 telephone conversation — to discuss the reasons behind the YMCA’s decision not to sign the letter of intent — would force a change of heart on the conservancy’s part.

The two organizations have been trying to come to an agreement for the last few months. The conservancy wants the YMCA to replace a failed septic system that Los Angeles County Heath Department cited it for, clean up a landfill and improve the fire-safety system at the campsite.

“We’ve been negotiating in good faith for at least the last nine months, we thought,” Miller said. “But every time they would throw out a requirement, we would take care of it and they would say, ‘Well, we don’t think you’re organization is financially capable of funding this.’”

Miller said he was picking up final plans for the fire safety improvements on Friday, that the YMCA had plans to clean up the landfill and that in the last month a donor had agreed to pay the $1.2-million bill for the septic system — all things the conservancy knew about.

The YMCA made it clear that it would sign a contract for the septic system repairs when they signed a lase, Miller said.

“Our contention was we do not feel we are responsible for these capital improvements unless we have a new lease,” he said.

But the conservancy said no, he said.

Conservancy Chief Financial Officer Mel Dinkel has said that the conservancy is still holding the YMCA financially responsible for the maintenance repairs, despite the fact that they are not renewing the lease.

But Thomas said the two organizations are trying to forge through those maintenance issues.

“I think Mel is trying to help the YMCA of Glendale get through some of those things, and so there may be a collaboration to get them resolved between the Glendale YMCA, interim manager and the conservancy,” he said.

When the YMCA’s lease is up on Dec. 31, Thomas said he suspects Guided Discoveries, which sub-leases from the Glendale YMCA now, will be the interim manager for the site.

But the lease expiration will not deter YMCA officials from sending kids to camp, Thomas said.

“I’m, as a CEO, committed to camping,” he said, adding that the volunteers who run YMCA camps can make an experience worthwhile anywhere.

“These people have the ability to foster a great camping experience and they can do it in a parking lot,” he added.

The Glendale YMCA is trying to form a coalition with other YMCA organizations to participate in the request for proposals process, Thomas said.

“There is some interest from YMCA’s who used to sublease from us…. I don’t think the Glendale YMCA is prepared to compete in the process on its own since the conservancy wasn’t helping us enough.”

If that coalition cannot be formed, Thomas has said the Glendale YMCA would look into subleasing from the next site manager.

Or the Glendale YMCA may consider another site on that island, or another island all together, Thomas said.

“I hate to lose so much,” he said. “We’ve invested so much over there in the buildings, the facilities…. All of that is lost to us, millions of dollars lost to us. But we are quite capable of going out to a new location and doing well.”

While the YMCA has a great staff, nothing could replace Camp Fox, Whittier resident Patrick MacDowell said.

“It’s going to be tough to ever get back what you lose there at Catalina,” he said. “There is something about that place that is very special.”