Attention... I was just informed via email by Bill Greenwood of the City of Coeur d'Alene that the 10th Street Non-Motorized Boat Launch has been officially killed. Even though this was not one of our projects and we gave them a quick assessment of the sites potential accessiblity, its still sad to see such a great project die. This is not an unusual happening related to city projects as typically there is a 50 50 chance of such projects succeeding. If you live in a city where such projects are warmly embraced count yourself lucky. The interesting note about this project is that only those opposed to this project were allowed to give input so really this project had no chance of getting approved.
On another note the site where this non-motorized facility was to be built is still available to those without disAbilities. Its a great place to launch your kayak and paddle board from... for more info about this site visit the following link and silde down the page to #3 10th Street Landing and Tubbs Hill... CLICK HERE!
So do not give up as the good news is we at Access To Outdoors have some great projects developing just outside the city limits... news forth coming soon.
10/15/2016
If you have not heard the accessible 10th Street Non-Motorized Boat Launch that received funding to be constructed in the spring of 2017 is now being blocked by members of the 11th street marina (dock owners), a real estate business next to the proposed site (commercial business), and a few land owners. Its possible this project could be killed all together.
The reasons they want to end this project is not because they want to limit access for persons with disAbilities but its due to the fact they feel its 1. an unsafe location for such a site (its already unsafe with the marina dock and boats so close to Tubbs Hill), 2. would create water craft congestion (no kayakers have noticed this issue), and 3. commercial businesses might use the site to access the lake (no proposal for commerical entity to use this site)... See video, City of CdA counsel meeting https://www.cdaid.org/videos
A point of interest made at the cda counsel meeting is that the shoreline of Tubbs Hill next to the marina is leased to the marina (a suggestion by a member of the 11th Street Marina assoc. that they own this shoreline). The question some of us have is why did the city lease public lands of our beloved Tubbs Hill to the marina (a commercial business) without public approval.
It should be noted that some who are against this project propose that an alternate site be created on the west side of Tubbs Hill at 3rd Street Marina, which has some potential but at a much greater cost. However such a site would put non-motorized craft in a congestion are (boats, vehicles, pedestrians), and this area has a lot more commercial activity... all the points they made against the accessible 10th Street non-motorized launch. I believe many of us would not be against this as a second or third choice.
There is also the idea of creating an alternate non-motorized launch at a site on Blackwell Island along the river. If you have ever tried to kayak on the Spokane River you know how congested that area is. The main reason for this congestion is due to the fact they keep building docks on this small portion of the river as if the river environment can handle an endless number of powerboats. Also this area is a high current area during spring and fall. Still this site shows potential for late spring, summer, early fall use as long as a log boom is put in place to protect the site from powerboat wakes.
So this is in a nutshell what is going on. I did not post this news sooner as I just found out about it. Access To Outdoors is in no way associated with the development of this site, we were only asked to suggest what accessible features would be good for a site like this.
So if you are for the development of this accessible 10th Street non-motorized boat launch please come to the City of Coeur d'Alene Parks & Rec. meeting this Dec. 19th at 5:30 in the CdA Library. A good turnout would go a long way in making it known that there are more people for this than against it. A poor turnout will insure this project will never be accomplished.
You might ask how many fully accessible sites are located on Lake Coeur d'Alene and Spokane River, the answer, ZERO. Access To Outdoors goal is to see at least one fully accessible marine site in each county within the Inland NW. This 10th street non-motorized water craft launch could be the first of its kind within Kootenai County, and in the entire Inland NW.
If you have any question and/or suggestions please email us at accesstooutdoors@gmail.com
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