Arlington Boathouse EIS – Request for Comments

[PotomacCyclist]

Gravelly Point is in Arlington. Columbia Island and the marina are in DC.

[rcannon100]

Oh you are right (looking at map). I always thought the island went all the way down to the airport!

[dbb]

The link is:

http://www.parkplanning.nps.gov/openPlansEachParkDocs.cfm?parkID=186

[dbb]

At first review, it isn’t clear why they didn’t include the Columbia Island Marina as an option. If I were scoping a project, I’d want to minimize the construction of parking and paved surfaces and the marina would seem to fill the bill quite nicely. I might have to go back and look at the older documents. This is one where offering comments is critical. I’d hate to have the facilities so many of us use get permanently impacted by something used by fewer people. Of the Arlington choices, the CSX/14th St Bridge option might impact the Long Bridge connection as well as the improvements at Gravelly Point that were staffed last month.

If no action isn’t an option, I think Daingerfield Island is the best of the action alternatives.

[Terpfan]

I’m thinking similarly to DBB here, why didn’t they cinlude Columbia Island Marina? Either way, option 4 is ridiculous–they would have to take the road back to Gravelly Point and it would only be accessible for folks coming north up the GWP. I could see putting it at Daingerfield although the notion of more people speeding across the GWP to pass traffic doesn’t really appeal to me. I also suspect that these rowers will not want to deal with motorist boats at their location. That leaves 1, 2 and 3, aka, right by Key Bridge. Of course at that point I don’t know why they couldn’t just cross the bridge and hop in with the other rowers by Georgetown.

[dbb]

I just submitted a preliminary set of comments to the two questions they asked (below). The first question should be expanded to ask if there is an actual need for such a facility. I attempted to find some of the preliminary documents that articulate the need for a boathouse but have not been successful.

The second question also appears to be flawed, as the choices are limited.

Question 1:
If you intend to use such a facility, what would your requirements be?

No. The vast majority of the current and future visitors to the GW Memorial Parkway will never use such a boating facility.

Question 2:
Do you have any concerns regarding the preliminary alternatives and proposed site locations presented?

I am concerned that the choices of the alternatives and site locations did not include the logical choice of the Columbia Island Marina, an established operation with parking and other support services.

As a result, the limited scoping of the initial effort will result in inadequate choices. Reopen the selection of the alternatives to include logical choices that might be constructed with little environmental or economic impacts.

[Author]

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