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Uncertain Future For Ela Campground Occupants

About sixty occupants of Ela Campground are facing an uncertain future after being notified by the property owner, Kituwah LLC of Cherokee to vacate the property by the end of the month. Former Ela Campground owner Paula Bishop told Five Forty Broadcasting News that in addition to the eviction notices the water and electrical service to the park had been cut off by Kituwah due to safety concerns. According to Bishop the county inspectors did not identify any safety hazards which included a lack of evidence of raw sewage on the property nor did Duke Power find an issue of safety from the electrical service. However an article in the Smoky Mountain Times reported that an electrical inspector hired by Kituwah disputed the safety claim. Bishop also confirmed that she owned additional property in the vicinity of Ela Campground but would not be able to get the land suitable for the occupants to move to on such short notice. One of the biggest problems for the occupants that have lived on the property for twenty years or more is that additions have been built onto the original travel trailer type dwellings and that over a hundred other structures have been constructed or added to the property. Now at an advanced age, some of the long-term occupants are no longer to remove either the extra structures or the add-ons. According to representative Mike Clampitt the availability of low-cost housing or places where residents can relocate to are hard to find, but Clampitt did assist the residents by loaning a generator and vouchers for use at a local laundromat.  Current Ela Campground residents have retained legal representation to guide their actions through this process.

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