Due to the influx of people pouring into the Northern Tier from the natural gas industry numerous RV parks in the Towanda, Pa., area have been filled to capacity.
WETM TV reported that the owner of Jones RV Park in Milan said he’s never seen the park stay this full.
“When we first bought it, up until three years ago we were lucky to have three or four camp sites at a time. Now in the last three years we’ve been full,” said Owner Myron Rosh.
Rosh said the average camper used to stay a few days, but now they stay months, adding that more than 90% of his occupants work in the natural gas industry.
Rosh said he’s had up to 20 people at one time on a list waiting to get in.
Steve Moore, the owner of Moore’s Auto and RV Sales, said there are several reasons why they have seen an influx in people staying at the parks.
“Bradford County doesn’t have the infrastructure for the hotels, and bed and breakfasts, offering places to stay for all the drillers coming in,” he said. “So they’re staying in their RVs or are living in them 24/7.”
Moore said his RV sales have quadrupled since 2009. For that reason, he’s begun creating specialty trailers to cater to the workers in the natural gas industry.
“We worked with a manufacturer to make specially designed trailers: extra installation, pads on the holding tanks, heated underbelly, all sorts of things to enable them to put up with our winters” said Moore.
Due to the RV parks being full, Moore said some homeowners have even offered up their property for RVs to park.
