2010-01-08 TCOUNTY - Laserfiche WebLink

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WOODWARD: Okay, very good. And Pat Moore, you’ll be first on the list. If you’d just give us your name and address and then you may begin. MOORE: Okay, thank you. My name is Pat Moore. My address is 1244 Kahoa Street, Hilo. I’m a frequent user of the bay. I have an 18 ½-foot Wherry. If you don’t know what that is it’s a long row boat; and I use the bay probably three to five times per week to launch my boat from there. It’s really the only accessible area that is currently open 24 hours a day. The opposite side where there’s the old boat ramp which was talked about at low tide it’s full of rocks and it’s very difficult to bring a boat in safely at that location. This is the only place where there is enough sand accumulated and where there is a sloping beach where you can roll a dolly down in order to launch a boat. I don’t launch at Bayfront because it’s a little bit more difficult for my dolly and the boat. And also I’ve done it once and it broached when I was trying to get out, which wasn’t very comfortable. The two locations, I would like to commend the Planning Department for listening to the public. I wasn’t able to attend any of the public meetings. However, when I saw the sign go up down at Reeds Bay I immediately went into the Parks and Recreation Department, talked to James, voiced my concerns to him, and also over to the Planning Department as well, too. And I commend them for modifying the original plan to have a boat access. Unfortunately, the drive- up location where they have planned the boat access is the wrong portion of the bay. If you go down there you’ll notice there’s about a 3-foot drop-off now from where you can drive on to where the beach is. And when I refer to a beach I’m talking about to the extent of the high water mark, and that, to me, is what is the definition of a beach. And actually the place where the people drive on I would refer to as not the beach itself. So that portion of the beach, and it has been there for a long time. And the currents and so forth have, there’s an embankment of about 3 feet, a steep drop-off and almost no sand is in the water area. And at low tide it is where there is the most rocks to bring a boat up onto. So I would like the Commission to consider moving the location of the drive-up area where you can launch to a different location on the beach. Currently I launch right nearby the spillway; and that’s the best location because it’s a sloping bank and there is a lot of sand that has come in there. Even at low tide though there’s a rock problem. So access is also another concern because right now it’s planned that the beach be locked up. I launch early in the morning, sometimes at 5 a.m. I stay out late at night. So coming back and having the beach closed up would be a problem for me. So it’d actually be restricting access. Also on across the way that is also a park, which he has closed and locked up. So you can’t park in the parking lot, launch your boat and then come back at a time when it’s locked up. So that’s also a problem that I think needs to be addressed as well. So I appreciate the idea of providing keys. I hope that works. I do like a lot of the improvements. And I guess I should summarize. One of the additional things I would like to say is that I did read the environmental study; and even though I have a great deal of appreciation and respect for Mr. Terry I did feel that it did not adequately address the usage of the current users, and that in looking forward when you do look at these plans that you take into consideration the impacts of 15 EXHIBIT C