Boat launch plan won't float

Photo: City of Kelowna

I’m sorry to always come at the City of Kelowna about their design department, but have they lost their minds?  Look at the plan for the proposed Cook Street boat launch upgrade.  

Pretend you are in a truck with a boat trailer and you just launched your boat. You are exiting the ramp area and where do you go? How do you get into the parking lot to park your truck and trailer to walk down to the boat?  

You literally have to navigate down a small, single-lane alley and then pull out onto Truswell Street and then swing wide and turn back into the parking area again. Not the best plan.

But here is an even bigger goof….  So now you find a parking spot and you decide to back out into the through lane to go get your boat.  Most people find it difficult to back straight down a boat ramp, let alone back out of a parking stall while executing a turn.   

It will be complete mayhem and a whole pile of ICBC damage claims.

Plus, they added their favourite design item, a choke point.  As you are trying to enter the launch wait area, there is a choke point where the overflow will park, screwing up the access and exiting of boats and trailers. 

Not done yet. Let’s pretend it’s off season and you are in a car looking for a place to park to go into one of the businesses nearby. These parking spots are long enough to hold a truck and trailer… but if you pull into the spot too far and someone comes and parks behind you, how are you going to get out?

I will bet that no one involved with this design owns a boat. This is not well thought through. They need to go back to the design board.  

Bill Ferguson