New Bay Trail will effectively prohibit kiting at Racetrack

[Bkbhki]

i am an albany resident and i use the racetrack often i emailed the person on the link but i cant attend the meeting

[amir]

Thanks everyone for coming out. I believe we did make ourselves heard.

However, I forgot to take the writeup that they handed out. There is a section in there that mentions the possibility of prohibiting kiteboarding. Can someone scan and post the handouts?

[Tony Soprano]

From the East Bay Regional Park District- Albany Bulb meeting
''Due to the size of the site as well as wind direction challenges, it may not be possible to provide safe and suitable accommodations for the exclusive use of kitesurfers, nor is it consistent with adopted plans that support the Beach area for universal recreational use and inclusion of the Bay Trail. As currently envisioned, the District dos not intend to prohibit kitesurfing from the Park. However, if kitesurfing activities demonstrate a clear hazard to other Park users, the District reserves the right to institute and enforce such prohibitions."
I implore you experienced kiteboarders to put time into your community to look after your favorite sailing venue, please do not hesitate to engage strangers with safety advice and help.
Alameda Crown Beach is under the East Bay Regional park district too

[Tony Soprano]

The BCDC Design Review board is held at 5:30pm on Monday June 5th at 375 Beale Street in San Francisco.
The staff report and exhibits will be posted on our website by Friday May 25th under Public Meetings/Design Review Board
http://www.bcdc.ca.gov/drb/drbmtg.php

any email/letter to BCDC reference this in your header.: BCDC Permit Number 2014.005.01 Albany Beach Restoration and Public Access Project at Eastshore State Park send to andrea.gaffney@bcdc.ca.gov

[amir]

Here's the link to the comments from the meet that had the prohibition language.

http://www.albanyca.org/Modules/ShowDoc ... ntid=29609

We have to give feedback when the parks plan to do improvements to ensure our access is maintained. Intentional or not, it can certainly be the case where new plans are designed to make kiting unsafe or impossible, and then likely prohibited.

Albany Beach is a focus now, but your local site may be next or may have already have benefited from community involvement like 3rd, Coyote, Crissy, and Alameda.

Toll Plaza (Radio Beach) may be in a similar situation soon too.
http://baybridgegatewaypark.org.s3-webs ... /areas.htm

[TechOps]

Here is the comment and response related to kitesurfing from that doc:

Comment: Provide space for kitesurfers to continue to be able to launch their kites at this Beach to the extent possible — This would be useful to demonstrate this with a diagram.
Response: The design presented to the DRB was based on recommendations from a kitesurfer made during the EIR process and included an open use area suitable for layout and landing. At the DRB April meeting, Mr. Andrew Sullivan, who uses Albany Beach for a variety of recreation pursuits including kitsurfing, expressed a different perspective about spatial needs for launch and landing. At a subsequent meeting conducted by the design team with Albany residents that included Mr. Sullivan, it was expressed that the Albany Beach site is really suitable only for experienced kitesurfers, and kite surfing launching and landing (and transportation of the kite from vehicle to launch site and back) may be hazardous for other beach visitors. Also noted is that varying winds essentially require use of adjacent GGF property as a clear area.
The revised design (see Figure 5) expands open areas and removes fencing in the southern portion of the site versus the plan previously presented to the DRB. Due to the size of the site as well as wind direction challenges, it may not be possible to provide safe and suitable accommodations for the exclusive use of kitesurfers, nor is it consistent with adopted plans that support the Beach area for universal recreational use and inclusion of the Bay Trail. As currently envisioned, the District does not intend to prohibit kitesurfing from the Park. However, if kitesurfing activities demonstrate a clear hazard to other Park users, the District reserves the right to institute and enforce such prohibitions.

[TechOps]

FYI, I sent in comments yesterday supporting the modifications to enable safe kitesurfing. This is the reply I received:

Thank you for your feedback about the Albany Beach Restoration and Bay
Trail Implementation project proposed by the East Bay Regional Parks
District. I would like to clarify that the meeting in Albany on Tuesday
was not hosted by BCDC and the handouts provided, including the response
document, where not produced by BCDC.

This project is scheduled to go before our Design Review Board(DRB) on
Monday June 5th. Your comments have been noted and will be provided to the
DRB members. You can also attend the June 5th meeting to speak during the
public comment period for the project. If you would like to speak, please
plan to arrive at the start of the meeting and submit a public comment
card on this issue.

The BCDC Design Review board is held at 5:30pm on Monday June 5th at 375
Beale Street in San Francisco. The staff report and exhibits will be
posted on our website by Friday May 25th under Public Meetings/Design
Review Board.
http://www.bcdc.ca.gov/drb/drbmtg.php

[amir]

From SFBA...

Attention kiteboarders who launch at Albany Beach next to the race track. There are two meetings coming up that may well decide if Albany Beach remains viable as a site to launch kites. The East Bay Regional Park District has proposed a project which would eliminate the current rigging area and most of the current parking. It will be reviewed by the Coastal Conservancy, a funding agency, at a meeting of the Water Trail Implementation Group on June 2, 2017 at the Coastal Conservancy offices in downtown Oakland. Then on Monday, June 5, the District’s plan will be reviewed by BCDC’s Design Review Board. That meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Bay Area Metro Center, 375 Beale Street. Yerba Buena, First Floor in San Francisco.

You are invited to join SFBA and local kiteboarders at a meeting on May 24 to discuss the latest revisions to the site plan and develop an approach for the next two meetings. The meeting will be hosted by Jim McGrath at the Berkeley Yacht Club in Berkeley marina at 7:00 pm. Here are links to the most recent plan and a draft response letter by SFBA laying out our concerns.

Draft letter to BCDC design review.pdf

Draft Letter

(207.55KiB)Downloaded 267 times

5_AB Beach Plans_4-24-17_.pdf

Beach Plans

(1MiB)Downloaded 261 times

[skinnydoc]

thanks for all the information!

[Tony Soprano]

http://www.sfba.org/news-bulletins/race ... fba-letter