Aliso Viejo Paving Way for Low-Cost Summer Day Camp

Correction: The camp will cost $373 to $650 per three-week session. A city document listed an incorrect price for the planned camp.

Aliso Viejo residents will chip in $20,000 to get Aliso Viejo Ranch ready for a kids summer camp to be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 24 through Aug. 29.

The low-cost camp is for kids 4 and older and will include swimming, camp songs and several games, crafts and activities. (See a partial list of activities below).

Last week the City Council approved a deal with Premier Recreation Services to hold the camp. The city will pay up to $20,000 of the estimated $40,000 to prepare the undeveloped ranch property for camp use. PRS will pay the other half, along with operating costs.

PRS currently runs the city's swim programs at the Aquatics Center, where over 500 Aliso Viejo families swim each year, according to PRS owner Dan Berzansky.

The camp will cost families $373 to $650 per three-week session, depending on the age of the camper and their time spent at camp.

Some of the activities planned for camp include:

• Water balloon painting
• Movie nights
• Field trips
• Raft building
• Laser tag
• Photo scavenger hunt
• Ropes course
• Baking
• Tumbling
• Making puppets

PRS expects over 100 campers a day on average, according to a city document, but Berzansky said he hopes to drive many more to the camp.

Berzansky originally planned for the summer camp to launch an after-school program. But the city will be leveling and grading the ranch parking lot after Founders Day in October, "Therefore, an after school program at the Ranch Site would not be possible at this time," Community Services Director Karen Crocker said in a staff report.

However, Berzansky said PRS plans to rent a room of the city's conference center following the end of the summer camp program. He intends to use this as the site of a future after school program.

Interested parents can sign up for a newsletter that features more info about the camp: premierrecservices.com/avcamps.