January 29, 2007
New Alachua Waterways Master Plan Being Drafted- Impact Sought on New Alachua Waterways Master Plan Gainesville Squadron Urges Boating Safety Education Be Emphasized in Plan
Boating safety education and the quality of water-related recreation in Alachua County will be significantly improved if recent recommendations by the Gainesville Sail and Power Squadron are included in the county’s first waterways master plan.
The Gainesville Sail and Power Squadron has offered its encouragement to county authorities preparing the first Alachua County Waterway Master Plan. As his first official act after a recent Change of Watch Dinner, in-coming Squadron Commander, Michael H. McKinney endorsed a letter to Robert Avery, Alachua Parks Superintendent expressing the squadron’s support for the process of preparing the county’s first waterways master plan.
McKinney’s predecessor, Commander David Teiss, had encouraged and supported the drafting of the squadron’s public position on the important issue. The squadron hopes to see a renewed emphasis on boating safety education in the first-ever master plan now being drafted. “The Gainesville Sail and Power Squadron deeply appreciated the time and effort you and your colleagues invested last fall in providing a highly valuable and interesting program for us that outlined your progress in developing the Alachua County Waterways Master Plan. We hope that our recommendations were helpful and that they will be taken into consideration,” McKinney told Parks Superintendent Avery. “A much improved process to substantially improve public boating safety,” is of “particular importance” to the Squadron, McKinney emphasized. “We believe that responsible, safe boating is directly correlated to awareness and education. Many of the citizens who use our waterways have little or no formal boating education to understand or practice safe boating, and little understanding of the rules and regulations adopted by the County for their protection and the preservation of our water-related recreational resources. This lack of awareness and training, coupled with the limited resources available for enforcement puts both our citizens and our natural resources at greater risk,” McKinney said. The new waterways master plan “offers a significant opportunity” to reduce public safety risks by “recommending some form of mandated public boating safety education program that would be required of all registered boat owners in Alachua County,” he noted.
McKinney pointed out that such a program requires an educational delivery process that uses qualified instructors and up-to-date information and materials. “We submit that the Gainesville Sail and Power Squadron not only has that demonstrated capability, but we are willing to expand our boating education safety program--conducted in conjunction with Santa Fe Community College,” to meet any additional need for boating safety education, including adapting the curriculum, where appropriate, to accomplish as much of any educational program(s) recommended in the master plan, as possible. The squadron has asked the county for the opportunity to review the draft master plan and to be advised of any public hearings.
“We anticipate, based on your presentation and explanation, that we will be able to be strongly supportive of the overall report and its findings,” McKinney noted. “This is not a prior commitment on our eventual public position, but my personal opinion based on the convergence between our public service and public policy objectives and those you outlined during your presentation. In any event, we do request to be heard on this important issue and therefore ask that the Squadron be kept advised of its progress towards completion, submission, public comment period and/or hearings,” he requested. He also requested that the squadron be invited to any stakeholder meetings that might be scheduled in the future.
Prepared by T. D. Connors, GSPS, PAO CAPT, USN (Ret)
