|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dana Point Boaters
Focus Group
Supplemental
information from Bruce Heyman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
This email is in compliance with the County of Orange's
requirement that communications about the Boaters Focus Group beyond the
membership is forbidden. Only members of the Boaters Focus Group
are receiving this email.
Brad and Jon thanks for the information handout at the last
meeting on ADA. I've been studying this issue for a while and have
always wondered what the actual impact to us is in Dana Point
Harbor.
At the December 19th, 2006 meeting I discussed with Randy Mason before
the meeting started that his previous statement at the November 28th,
2006 meeting was possibly incorrect. At the November meeting we
were told that to become compliant with the proposed ADA guidelines we
would lose 2% of our 2409 slips. After I reviewed the math prescribed
by Appendix B of the Marina Design Guidelines published by the California
Department of Boating and Waterways, Randy agreed with me that the impact
would be at most 1.2% and he announced the correction at the December
meeting. I still believe this logic is flawed because it assumes that
these 23 slips that make up the 1.2% are outright eliminated which they
are obviously not.
I believe the real impact can be broken down into the following areas,
width of the fingers and main walkways and the impact of the longer ramps
or structures to meet the maximum slope requirements. Both of these
impacts could result in less water area available for slips. It does not
appear that any other dimensions of the slip (length or width) must be
changed to be compliant.
I believe the longer ramp impact is easily handled as Cash and
Associates, Randy Mason in particular, have done an excellent job at
placing the ramps in such a way as to avoid the elimination of any
slips. I assume it is possible that the length of some slips may be
shorter due to their adjacency to the ramp but; that is no different than
it is today.
The next issue is the requirement for the width of the fingers and main
walkways. The wider the fingers and main walkways the less space
there is for boats. From 15.2.5.1 we get that the clearance has to
be 60" or 5' for an Accessible slip. As the requirements for
the standard main walkways are 6', I believe there is no impact due to
main walkways. The specifications for the standard fingers
are:
Up to 20' slip 2.5'
21'to
35'
3.0'
36' to
60'
4.0'
61' and
up
5.0'
Since our average slip length is in the 21 to 35' range we can assume
that for each Accessible slip we will need to increase on average from 3'
to 5', basically losing 2' per slip. This means that in total we
lose on the order of 46' (2' loss * 23 accessible slips). The DBW recommends
a beam of 14.5' for a 34' power boat which combined with its finger means
a total of 17.5' per slip. Hence
to accommodate the requirement of providing Accessible slips and using
current DBW design guidelines we will lose about 2.6 slips or 0.131% of
the current 2409.
The real kicker is that the current harbor design is more generous on
main walkway width than the new proposed width. I've been unable to
obtain from the engineers the actual inventory dimensions but spot checks
(J dock on Island side is 7' wide) show that we will actually gain space
by following the new guidelines as our main walkways will be thinner.
Brad, Randy and Jon, please let me know if there are any errors in my
analysis as I feel it is important for us to understand the impacts of
our decisions.
I,
like many of you, only want what is best for the harbor. I hope you
will agree with me that this involves a very complex set of tradeoffs
with no clear right or wrong answers. That said, I believe it is
vital that we use as many facts and non-emotional or political elements
in our discussions and analysis as possible; after all, we are talking
about spending $85,000,000 or more and it has to last for up to 50 years.
I've worked full
time for the last two years to try to increase the knowledge and
understanding of the issues facing boaters in Dana Point harbor while
increasing the involvement of boaters in the planning process, as well as
working with the proper authorities to improve on the plan.
|
|
|
|
Contact
Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
phone: (949)
289-8400
BruceHeyman@cox.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
