Letter to the study group on Alachua County Water Resources
January 25, 2007 Mr. Robert Avery Parks Superintendent Mr. Steve Holland Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sports Management Mr. Larry Schnell Dear Colleagues:
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.
Of particular importance to us, as you heard first hand, is a much improved process to substantially improve public boating safety. 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.
We believe the new master plan offers a significant opportunity to address this concern by recommending some form of mandated public boating safety education program that would be required of all registered boat owners in
Of course, such a program requires an educational delivery process that uses qualified instructors and up-to-date information and materials. We submit that the Sail and Power Squadron not only has that demonstrated capability, but we are willing to "step up to the plate," as it were, to expand our boating education safety program--conducted in conjunction with
Typically, new public policy documents such as the Alachua County Waterways Master Plan are prepared as "drafts" and offered for public comment. If that is the case for the ACWMP, we request to be advised as to when the draft will be available for review and comment. We plan to review it carefully and may want to suggest changes in some cases. If it would be appropriate for the Squadron to review an advance copy of the draft, that too, would be appreciated.
Typically, upon receipt of such a study draft, the approving body, i.e. Alachua County Commission, holds a public hearing during which members of the public comment on the suggested findings and recommendations. We anticpate, based on your presentation and explanation, that we will be able to be strongly supportive of the overall report and its findings. 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. We understand that a survey is planned in the near future and that stakeholder meetings are being planned. We request to be kept advised of these developments and that GSPS be given an opportunity to participate. In advance, thank you for your efforts to improve water-related recreation and conservation resources in our county. We look forward to helping bring about that worthy goal in any way possible.
Sincerely, Michael McKinney Commander 352-377-1870 http://www.gainesvillesailandpower.com/ |
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