Quote:
Originally Posted by Never Satisfied
I am personally a boater and enjoy Lake Winnie every summer weekend on my boat. With that said, my parents come to visit the lake 3-4 weekends per summer and stay at Ellacoya. For those weekends I also enjoy the RV park.
Ellacoya State Park is probably the nicest state owned RV park in NH. Its definitely the nicest on Winnie... Why would we want to change that?
Most of this thread (with the exception of a few posts) is about boating, boating, boating... As a boater myself it is easy to think that way. But as a boater, I have the whole entire lake to enjoy. 72 square miles to be exact. Why can't we give the hundreds perhaps thousands of RVers in the state of NH alone, 23 acres or 600 feet of shorefront?
How much shorefront land will be disrupted for this project? How many shorefront trees will be taken down? Is this project exempt from the shore land protection laws which disallow removing trees and brush so many feet from the shoreline?
I am a Die Hard Lake Winnie boater and I am AGAINST this project. Let's preserve the natural beauty of the nicest RV park on the lake and let RVers keep their tiny portion of Lake Winnie.
|
Good Morning Never Satisfied,
It appears that your handle, Never Satisfied, is a misnomer, at least in the context of Ellacoya. You are obviously more than satisfied about the status quo at that location. We are, of course, all entitled to our opinions, but there are a few facts I need to share with you.
First of all, the Deed of Gift that conveyed Ellacoya to the State of NH was very specific about the activities that were to be accommodated at that property and there are about fifteen different types of outdoor programs that were mentioned including, sailing and sailing instruction. No where in that deed is there any mention of camping or RV'ing. That having been said, there's plenty of room at Ellacoya for the RV'ers to do their thing and for a sailing center to exist in a manner that will allow the two uses to compement one another. Furthermore, we have no intention of seeking for the terms of the deed to be enforced. We rather like the notion that campers might be an audience and a source of people for some of our activities.
A sailing center will enhance the RV'ers experience, both children and adults. We would occupy a very small corner of the facility and our uses would take up only 200 feet of the entire lake frontage. Our programs will be open to the public, including the folks in the campground adding in the process, a whole new dimension to the Ellacoya experience. We intend to upgrade the public lauching facility so that vehicles will no longer dig up the beach when they get stuck trying to launch boats.
The RV Park is really busy only about two months out of the year. Our LWSA Sailing Center will be active for at least six months every year and a small portion of the facility will be heated for our staff to occupy offices and for our Board to have meetings during the winter.
We will be subject to the Shoreland Protection Zone. The stand of oaks at Ellacoya are magnificent and we have no intention of cutting any of those trees within the fifty foot setback zone. We wish to capitalize on the beauty of Ellacoya, not to damage it.
Our programs will revolve mostly around children and the participants in our Adaptive Sailing Program. We will introduce the beauty and the thrills of sailing to profoundly handicapped children and adults, including particpants in the Wounded Warrior Project - badly injured Vets coming back from service overseas. We will also provide programs for adults who wish to learn how to sail. Don't you feel these are worthwhile and appropriate activities to share a small portion of Ellacoya with?
Never Satisfied, our new Sailing Center is an appropriate and viable use for Ellacoya. You should be willing to share a small section of Ellacoya with us. It is, after all, a publicly owned property that should be available for the widest possible types of public uses. You should be encouraging our presence at Ellacoya instead of conjuring up images that somehow we will not be a pleasant addition to the Ellacoya scene.
Regards,
Tom Mullen, President
Lake Winnipesaukee Sailing Association