SFBA Bay Area Water Trail Draft Revised EIR comments

[BillRx]

September 10, 2010

Ms. Ann Buell
State of California Coastal Conservancy
1330 Broadway, Suite 1300
Oakland, CA 94612

Subject: Comments on the San Francisco Bay Area Water Trail Plan Draft Revised Environmental Impact Report (EIR)

Dear Ms. Buell:

The San Francisco Boardsailing Association (SFBA – Windsurfing & Kiteboarding) submits the following comments on the Bay Area Water Trail Draft Revised Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The State of California Coastal Conservancy (SCC) has long had a mandate of improving access to the coast, and over time it has created significant enhancements enjoyed by many. To our disappointment, however, much like the initial Water Trail (WT) EIR, this Revised EIR also does not meet its main objective of adequacy and completeness in its good faith effort of full disclosure.

Overall, the EIR provides for a rather timid approach of adding existing Bay Area Windsurfing and Kiteboarding sites to the Water Trail, treating existing sites as if they were expansions into sensitive areas of the Bay rather than as an opportunity to educate an existing group of users. Additionally, no improvements such as restrooms or outdoor showers are possible with this EIR, and the process for adding existing sites to the Water Trail is so unwieldy that we question whether many site managers have the patience and resources during these difficult times for local government’s recreation budgets. As a result, we believe SCC risks losing the support of the people who should be considered partners, constituents and targets for your own education efforts.

List of HOS’s Omits Many of the Existing Sites Used by Windsurfers and Kiteboarders

The EIR notes incorrectly on page 2-19 that only sixteen (16) of the one hundred and twelve (112) sites in the WT plan are windsurfing and/or kiteboarding sites, and a number of these are excluded from the list of HOS’s. Thus, the listing of existing windsurfing and kiteboarding sites will likely be required to go through an extensive designation process, or more likely, continue to be used without any potential grant funding through the water trail or any associated stewardship or education efforts.

The following popular windsurfing sites are included as HOS’s in Table 2.3.2-1: Berkeley Marina (A26), Emeryville Marina, San Leandro Marina, Crown Memorial Beach in Alameda, Pt. Isabel, Shimada and Vincent Parks in Richmond, Candlestick Point, Crissy Field, Third Avenue, two sites in Benicia (Matthew Turner Park and the Ninth Street Launch and beach) and Coyote Point Beach. This is only thirteen (13) of the twenty-four (24) sites that are currently in use, and includes only four (4) sites used by kiteboarders — Crown Memorial, Third Avenue, Crissy Field, and Vincent Park.

The Revised EIR also excludes from HOS consideration existing windsurfing and kiteboarding launches at Albany Beach, Point Emery, Treasure Island, Rod and Gun, Larkspur Landing, Remillard Park, San Quentin, the Cove near Presidio Yacht Club and Rodeo Beach. Adding the Treasure Island site at this time may be difficult, since it is still considered Navy property.

Our members use all of these sites, and including them at this time would promote educational efforts that would decrease, not increase, any potential impacts. As currently designed, the SCC would adopt a plan that would defer educational efforts indefinitely and perhaps permanently if local governments find the requirements too onerous. As a result of the constrained set of HOSs, the Water Trail includes no sites for windsurfing or kiteboarding in either Marin County or Santa Clara County, where a number of our members live and/or work and have pioneered sites on their own. To these users, the Water Trail effort provides no benefit and thus sacrifices the ability to reach existing members who sail from these sites.

Trailhead Designation Process is Unwieldy and Lacks Transparency

It is frustrating for Non-Motorized Small Boat (NMSB) users that five years after the State Legislature declared that:

Water-oriented recreational uses of the San Francisco Bay … are of great benefit to the public welfare…

and established policies of

…protecting endangered and threatened species, and species of special concern…

and encouraged SCC to undertake projects during the period when the plan is being prepared, that we find ourselves with another Draft EIR that will not actually designate any of the existing sites. In the case of many of the existing windsurfing and kiteboarding sites, it seems to require an extensive and expensive further planning process, requiring “much more detailed Trailhead Plans…with site-specific CEQA review.” If local governments are discouraged by these requirements, these sites will remain in use, but without the benefits of education and user awareness. This seems to be counter to SCC’s objectives.

New Sites are Needed

Many of our windsurfers and kiteboarders are interested in windsurfing after work in areas close to their work sites. In fact, many of our members (including your’s truly) have chosen specific locations within the Bay Area as their home and workplace specifically for the world-class windsurfing and kiteboarding sites and opportunities, and a good number have chosen professions and employers based upon the ability to windsurf and kiteboard in the mid-to-late afternoons when the wind is at its strongest. Many of our members are familiar with the provisions of the California Constitution, and often view launching their boards or kites as a fundamental right, as Section 4 of Article 10 of the Constitution provides:

No individual … shall be permitted to exclude the right of way to such water … or obstruct the free navigation of such water; and the Legislature shall enact such laws as will give the most liberal construction to this provision, so that access to the navigable waters of the State shall always be attainable for the people thereof.

When no workable process to formally establish new sites is available, our users have used existing segments of the Bay Trail, or beaches or other access points to reach the Bay. The following recent experience with kiteboard launching in Corte Madera marsh should illustrate the potential concerns of not providing for our members needs:

The California Department of Fish and Game (CA DFG) manages the Corte Madera marsh as a wildlife refuge. Their web site includes the following language: “Only lightweight hand-carried boats may be launched within the reserve.” Local kiteboarders began to launch their kites from the marsh, believing that their lightweight hand-carried boards fit within that definition. However, the spreading of kite-lines in preparation for launch affected about half an acre of marsh grass.

This experience illustrates the need for new sites to accommodate the growing sport of kiteboarding, and that absent suitable sites… users will pioneer new sites. Clearly the incident in Corte Madera marsh did not occur as a result of having designated an existing site part of the Water Trail; but instead because the existing sites were not considered safe by kiteboarders. If the SCC establishes an unwieldy process that does not meet user needs, the result could be something that none of us can influence or manage as users pioneer new sites and regulators try to respond.


Sincerely,

signed

William Robberson, President
San Francisco Boardsailing Association

billrobberson@sfba.org