The plan is to begin year-round water taxi service in early 2010 ... and in order to do this they're going to need to pull out the existing dock (the fishing pier won't be affected) and replace it with a wider, stronger structure. They'll shut down the ferry in late September, 2009 and do the structural work once that service ends. The new dock will "T" ... with a longer, wider access ramp, a section that runs in front of and parallel to the fishing pier, and the section that the ferry docks to will be abourt 70 feet long and run perpendicular to shore, just off the south end of the fishing pier. For divers this is good news ... because it means the water taxi will no longer have to make wide, sweeping turns through the dive area ... and also the overall length of the dock will be shortened somewhat. For that reason the proposed route for the boundary rope would be moved a bit closer to the pier ... widening the area available for diving and opening up some of the structure just inside the existing boundary line to diving. The route they proposed would've blocked off Olive's Den, but when we broke up into discussion groups and talked to the designers about it, they were amenable to keeping that area available to the divers (the folks representing the City, the design team, and the ferry service seemed genuinely willing to listen to us).
Parking was a big issue being discussed ... and to be honest, I don't think there are any real solutions right now. Some of the suggestions ran from opening up the Armani parking area to more cars, turning the grassy area in front of the bathrooms into parking stalls, increasing shuttle routes to make it more amenable for people to park down along the public beach, and others. I suggested a staging area for divers over in the area by the showers now ... since those picnic tables over there don't seem to get much use.
City Counsellor Constantine did say that the intent is ... in the long term ... to move the water taxi to a different location, but that in today's financial climate it was unrealistic to expect that to happen anytime soon.
The impression I came away with is that what may ultimately force the water taxi to find another location is increased ridership. So as strange as it may sound ... it may be in our best interest to hope that program succeeds beyond their wildest expectations.
Turnout was quite good this evening ... probably 60 or 70 people in attendance, with a pretty good representation of all the various interests using the park as well as local residents. Maybe 10 divers showed up ... mostly the usual suspects. The owner of the local dive shop even made an appearance ...
![Super :supz:](./images/smilies/icon_super.gif)
Overall I came away feeling like the diving community's interests are being heard and considered.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)