Had a good meeting last night about the lake. I would break the information into three parts:
1. Overall status and pace: I would say that the information I heard last night is pretty early on. The Freedom Center’s business plan is very draft and the operating agreement is about 50% done with significant differences still to be worked out.
2. Money: The State will pay to install the ramp and parking lot. The Freedom Center will run the marina and hopefully cover their costs by charging access fees, etc.. Still unresolved is who exactly will pay to build the buildings, buy the cash regiseters, boats and all the other stuff one might need to run a marina? Also to be resolved is who covers the shortfall if the marina loses money? These are significant issues.
3. Do we need a marina? What do other people do? : There are a mix of solutions that localities use. In the NoVa area, the primary drinking water resource is the Potomac but in other areas of the state there are drinking water resevoirs that are primary sources but also have recreational uses. As one might expect, the level of control varies from full-on marinas to nothing at all to control access. I haven’t done a scientific survey but it would appear at first glance that the more rural areas do less to control this. Lake Manassas is located in one of the fastest growing Counties in the country.
In addition, our Utilities staff believes controlling access to the lake is very important to ensuring safe drinking water. For those of you who hand-wave away the opinion of those who currently ensure your water quality, we also requested and recieved, an opinion from Dr. Grizzard of Va. Tech. Dr. Grizzard is the Director of the Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Lab. This lab also runs the testing program for Lake Manassas. He indicates that he sees no problem with electric or manual boats as long as there is some control over what goes in and that any boats brought in be properly treated to eliminate non-native species infestations. Non-native (zebra mussel, etc) infestations cost a lot and are rarely completely eliminated – resulting in ongoing costs to the rate payers.
I believe that the parties currently working together to make this happen are pretty unique and I’m optimistic that something can happen but we’ll have to wait until they come back with plans that are a bit more fleshed out. The Utilities staff indicated that they will work to identify costs and possible sources of funding and bring the matter back in the early fall.
July 2, 2010 at 10:56 am
Thanks for sharing the information Andy. Congratulations on being re-elected Vice Mayor!
July 2, 2010 at 11:28 am
Thx.
July 2, 2010 at 9:41 pm
In addition, our Utilities staff believes controlling access to the lake is very important to ensuring safe drinking water. For those of you who hand-wave away the opinion of those who currently ensure your water quality, we also requested and recieved, an opinion from Dr. Grizzard of Va. Tech. Dr. Grizzard is the Director of the Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Lab. This lab also runs the testing program for Lake Manassas. He indicates that he sees no problem with electric or manual boats as long as there is some control over what goes in and that any boats brought in be properly treated to eliminate non-native species infestations. Non-native (zebra mussel, etc) infestations cost a lot and are rarely completely eliminated – resulting in ongoing costs to the rate payers.
I think those are common sense points and the City should limit boats to non gas powered motors, and of course have control over who uses the lake. I don’t think anyone would have an issue with that, given that’s the case in most places.
I think the problem that I and others have is no access at all, and bringing in strawman arguments about water safety, that some how allowing any access would lower the quality of the water, or lead to some sort of long term damage to the lake.
July 4, 2010 at 10:55 am
I think that that’s fair to say. Long-term, we need to ensure the lake stays clean and safe. The marina, while no guarantee, is the appropriate mechanism.
This being the case, the money and the operating contract are the big issues.
July 4, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Andy, I know I said I was going to stay out of this issue…LOL…but in reading the Washington Post Extra this fine July 4th, I noticed the lines about having a boat/canoe/etc wash available.
Haven’t read the draft in the City Council Agenda, but brought back memories of BSA Camp Sam Hatcher down by Swansboro, NC. We had a concrete pad with a french-drain kinda thing to wash the canoes and sailboats so we did our part to keep the Intercoastal Waterway clean. Mainly to get the salt off of them was why they were washed.
I presume when we look at a marina, the cost of the wash is factored into it?
July 5, 2010 at 8:58 am
Yes indeed.