News Flash
More Bureaucratic Red Tape?
Today's News-Herald - Editorial
Published
Is it a power statement or a safety issue?
Once again, the Bureau of Land Management has become involved in a process on Lake Havasu, and this time, delays could have dangerous consequences.
The Lake Havasu City Marine Association recently obtained a permit from the U.S. Coast Guard to place 18 buoys on the California side of Lake Havasu in areas considered to be hazardous to boaters. In a meeting last week between the marine association, the Coast Guard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the BLM, it was announced a BLM permit would be required before the buoys could be placed. This process could take as long as six additional months for the permit to be approved and will require an environmental study. A BLM spokesperson said the marine association would have to apply for a land-use permit and include any safety concerns in the application to possibly speed up the process, but it would still take months before any approval would be forthcoming, according to an earlier report in the Today’s News-Herald.
In addition to application fees and environmental study fees, there would possibly be an ongoing annual fee attached, payable to the BLM. All sorts of use fees have been in stages of discussion by the BLM for some time — fees that could ultimately affect the use of the Lake by recreational boaters and the tourism industry in Lake Havasu City in general. BLM has cited its jurisdiction over the Lake numerous times since the floating vendor issue came to the fore last year. As Jim Salscheider, marine association executive director, stated, the Coast Guard indicated if safety issues were involved, a permit would be issued “on the spot.” And the Coast Guard has verified there are safety issues in the shallow areas on the California side of the Lake — thus, their approval of the permit.
The marine association raised funds in 2009 to pay for the buoys and received support for their placement from public safety entities on both sides of the Lake from San Bernardino County to Mohave County law enforcement, so what’s the hold-up? Increased safety on the Lake is the desired outcome for the buoy program and who better to administer it than the marine association? We hope the BLM will act swiftly to approve this necessary program and perhaps prevent an accident waiting to happen.
— Today’s News-Herald
Permit Needed for Buoys on Lake
Today's News-Herald
Published
BLM approval may delay marine association project for months
The Bureau of Land Management is making its presence known on the Lake again — this time possibly causing delays with 18 U.S. Coast Guard-approved safety buoys. The Lake Havasu Marine Association applied, and received, Coast Guard approval for the safety buoys to be placed over hazards near the California side of the Lake, but BLM representatives say the organization must approve the buoys as well. The announcement came after a meeting with Coast Guard, Marine Association, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and BLM representatives earlier this week.
“We were upset about that and we wonder why, if it’s in the interest of public safety, that this can’t be moved along quicker in some way,” said Marine Association Executive Director Jim Salscheider. “(The BLM’s) agenda, whatever that may be, seems more important than public safety.”
BLM Lake Havasu Assistant Field Manager Mike Henderson said because the buoys would be placed in the organization’s jurisdiction, placement would require a BLM permit and an environmental review.“It’s going to be a land-use permit and it has to go through the same process of a right-of-way or lease (the marine association) will have to apply for,” Henderson said, adding that the environmental review process could move faster because of other environmental assessments performed on the Lake previously. “It’s still going to be several months from the time we get it, and we haven’t received anything yet.” Henderson said the BLM could possibly approve the application sooner if safety concerns are evident, but added the marine association would be required to make a case in the application. “BLM is concerned with the hazards on the other side of the Lake too,” Henderson said. “We’re going to do whatever is necessary to make sure hazard areas are identified in the future.”
Salscheider said approval from the Coast Guard took roughly six weeks and the process was sped up because of public safety concerns. “With the Coast Guard, when we applied, they told us a commanding officer could simply note the safety concern and approve the application on the spot,” Salscheider said. “Why wouldn’t the BLM have the same provision? We hope and expect they’ll expedite this for public safety.”
The marine association held a fund-raising event in November 2009, and after raising enough money for the buoys, received support from San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner Rod Hoops, Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan and Chemehuevi Indian Tribe Chairman Charles Wood. “Despite that fact and despite the fact that the marine association is paying for them, installing them and maintaining them, the BLM is insisting that we file for a permit for their anchors,” Salscheider wrote in an email. “There is also a fee attached for the permit and possibly an ongoing annual fee as well.”
BLM representatives announced in June that the organization is currently administering an environmental assessment on the Lake to determine Special Recreation Permit Regulations and possible fees for “nearly every boating activity on the Lake.” The organization also performed an environmental assessment for shoreline and on-the-water vendors on the Lake earlier this year.
Lands and waters at the 450-foot Lake elevation and below are Bureau of Reclamation withdrawn lands, Henderson said previously. “These lands (and waters) are managed by the BLM under Secretarial Order No. 2915 that states, ‘the purpose of this Order is to assign to the BLM full responsibility for the implementation of the Plan (Lower Colorado River Land Use Plan, 1964), including; negotiation, execution, and administration of leases; the administration of Reclamation lands used or to be used for recreation or wildlife activities; administration of the special permit program on the lands; and for coordination with plans, programs, or activities of bureaus and offices that relate to or affect the Plan.’”
BLM representatives previously indicated that enforcement began in July 2009 when city officials asked for assistance in the removal of all shoreline and floating vendors from Rotary Community Park and London Bridge beaches. But Field Manager Ramone McCoy said those events only “sped up the process.” Salscheider said he didn’t anticipate any of the actions taken by the BLM following the removal of the vendors. “All we were asking is that they (were) removed from city’s beaches,” he said. “We had no expectation that this would lead to anything other than the vendors being removed from our beaches. … The buoy program is totally different from that. Because it’s in the interest in public safety, and it’s a dozen or so objects in 2 to 4 feet of water only 100 yards from shore. It’s hard to imagine all these requirements would be necessary. I really hope boaters aren’t at risk for the six months that this takes for them to finish.” Salscheider added that one of his major concerns is safety, closely followed by the impact on tourism. “There is nothing on record that formally says how many incidences there are near those dangerous areas, but any boater that’s been on this Lake for a considerable amount of time has seen it or done it,” he said. “If you’re a first time boater and there’s nothing warning you that this could happen and you damage your boat like that, what if you don’t come back because of it?”
San Diego Coast Guard Officer in Charge of Aides to Navigation Mike Tapp, who assisted in the Coast Guard permitting process for the buoys, said it’s not uncommon for more than one agency to be involved in granting permits.
“In our opinion the marine association is very well suited to maintain the program they’ve initiated and it’s a worthwhile program because it addresses those safety issues,” Tapp said. “It’s not necessarily typical for other organizations to require approval on a Lake but it’s not atypical either that another organization would have other requirements. … But from the Coast Guard’s perspective, there is a maritime safety aspect and we think it would increase safety on the Lake.”
You can contact the reporter at nbruttell@havasunews.com
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY SHERIFF'S
Attempt to Locate Suspect Boat Hit & Run Fatality
SUSPECT BOAT: 25-30 foot V-Hull, primarily red with white striping, driven by a heavy-set white male adult with a mustache and wearing a hat. There was a white female adult passenger with blonde hair.
On Saturday, July 3, 2010 at approximately 5:42pm, the victim was struck and killed by a boat near the California shoreline in the area of Havasu Landing Casino, Lake Havasu. The suspect boat was reportedly travelling at approximately 30-40 mph and fled south-bound from the area.
The Sheriff's Department is asking anyone who may have been in the area and witnessed the incident or who may have information regarding the suspect vessel, the identity of the suspect driving the vessel or the female passenger, to please contact them immediately.
ANY AND ALL INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Colorado River Sheriff's Station / Sgt. Tim Smith or Det. Jimmy Trahin
(760)326-9200 or Sheriff's Dispatch (760)245-4211
If you wish to remain anonymous please call: 1-800-78-CRIME
Reference DR#CBR1000049 - 07/09/2010 Source: SBSD Criminal Intelligence / lb
BLM fees would recapture what cost, exactly?
Editorial
Today's News-Herald
Published
The federal Bureau of Land Management wants to charge fees — some of them quite hefty — for events held on Lake Havasu. If it does so, it is likely to kill off some events that have been popular attractions in our community for years. That would be a shame. Local tourism advocates are understandably up in arms. While the tourism business is important, the fee proposals should be of deep concern to everyone in the community. In our view, the BLM is just hunting for money and, if it
imposes the suggested fees, would do so in a manner that appears inconsistent with the intent of federal regulations.
But back up: How did the BLM come to be in charge of the lake? The short version is that the federal Bureau of Reclamation abdicated the responsibility to the BLM. When Lake Havasu City
businesses complained about unfair competition from beach vendors, it unleashed a BLM permitting process. Now the BLM, it appears, is saying: Why stop with beach vendors? The fee model would apparently be based upon a BLM model in California. If an organizer wants to run, say, an off-road race on BLM land in California, there is likely to be a base fee plus a per-participant fee of several dollars each. The charges can be significant for commercial and competitive events. The good news, we guess, is that BLM isn’t proposing to charge individual users such as private boaters and swimmers. In Lake Havasu City, tourism officials say the suggested fees could run up to several thousand dollars per event. We’d hate to see something as popular as the Parade of Lights, which doesn’t produce any real revenue but is in a sense competitive, go dark because of fees. Dozens of other large and small events — including fishing tournaments and regattas — may be competitive and some may be commercial, but they are popular for recreational reasons, not business reasons. It appears federal regulations give BLM broad authority to set fees for a variety of reasons and to base them upon such things as how much private venues would charge for similar events. But the overriding justification for the fees, as nearly as we can tell, is to recapture federal investments in the facilities and in the permitting process. And what is BLM’s investment in the lake facilities? Roughly zilch, other than some lake access camping facilities for which user fees are already in place. There has been some mention that BLM may need the lake event fees to monitor water quality. No doubt the BLM has regulatory justification for doing that, but we doubt it would add much to the ample monitoring already in place by the myriad agencies with some authority on the lake. Just as regulations allow the imposition of BLM fees, the regulations also impose limits on fees. The fees are pretty much limited to the cost of the permit, the use of facilities and “monitoring,” a catch-all word we believe is being stretched severely in the lake fee proposals. The BLM is asking for money in exchange for not much. The agency, we believe, has a responsibility to have an investment in recreational and event facilities around the lake before demanding fees for its use.
— Today’s News-Herald
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Marine group gets grant for 20,000 bags
By NATHAN BRUTTELL
Today's News-Herald
Published
Lake Havasu City beaches and shoreline should be cleaner thanks to a grant that will allow the Marine Association to buy 20,000 more trash bags for the organization’s “Pack It In-“Pack It Out” program.
The Lake Havasu City Marine Association recently received a Grassroots Grant from the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water. The annual grant program is designed to help nonprofit groups, associations, organizations and other waterway users to help spread the message about safe and clean boating practices at the grass roots level, according to a press release.
Marine Association executive Director Jim Salscheider said he was excited about the grant as 150 entries applied for it and only 11 received them.
“It’s the hear of the summer and people are going through them like crazy,” Salscheider said. “All of a sudden we have boxes flying out of our warehouse. We know people are using them and that extra 20,000 is going to go a long way to making sure we have enough this year”.
The Marine Association will use the funds to purchase 20,000 trash bags to place on more than 60 bag posts located in marinas, gas docks and beaches around Lake Havasu, according to the release.
“when we decided to try this program, the first time out we had 17 boats and we filled up a 40-foot Dumpster in a day,” Salscheider said. “Without this program and this grant, we’d have trash on most of the beaches in Lake Havasu.”
Lake Cleanup Coordinator Dan Herron said he was trilled that the organization received the grant.
“It’s going to help us keep the beaches and the lake much, much cleaner than we could’ve done alone,” Herron said. “Prior to this program, everybody would just leave their trash on the beach and it was filthy. Now, the difference is enormous and our beaches are clean. It’s been huge for us.”
The decision was an easy one for BoatUS Foundation representative, Grant Coordinator Alanna Keating said.
“Working with small local boating nonprofits like this enables us to focus on issues specific to local waterways,” Keating said in the release. “We rely on enthusiastic volunteers like these to help expand our reach.”
The BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water is a national nonprofit education and research organization “primarily funded by the voluntary contributions of the 600,000 members of BoatUS,” according to the release. A list of all 11 recipients, as well as grant applications and guidelines are available at www.boatus.com/foundation.
Civic leaders worry about BLM fee plan
By NATHAN BRUTTELL
Today's News-Herald
Published
Possible federal fees on Lake Havasu could cripple the city.That’s the sentiment among several city officials who met with Bureau of Land Management representatives earlier this month. The BLM, which has the rights to the waters below the 450-foot elevation marker, is currently administering an environmental assessment on the lake to determine Special Recreation Permit Regulations. BLM representatives say the process could be complete in October, but a number of hospitality officials within the city already agree the fees will hinder tourism.
“These new fees are definitely going to have some of our events reeling or folding altogether,” said Convention and Visitors Bureau President/CEO Doug Traub. “Some of these regulations could effectively shut down our ability to market ourselves to film and other events in our city. I mean, darn it, that’s our bread and butter here.”
BLM Lake Havasu Manager Ramone McCoy said it is too early to speculate on the impact of the fees. “Keep in mind that these environmental assessments are public documents and open to public comments once they’re complete,” McCoy said, adding that the fees and regulations should follow the same as BLM California. “BLM is responsible for administration of recreation activities on the lake. We are slowly going through the process of administering those duties. We started out with the vendors and our next step is the competitive and organized events.”
The minimum fee for a Special Recreation Permit is $90, according to BLM California, and all other possible fees depend on the specific type of event. “The fees set by the BLM director depend on the type of use,” McCoy said. “The fees for commercial use are 3 percent of the gross receipts collected. Competitive use or organized group/event use fees are $4 per participant per day, 3 percent of gross receipts, or the minimum annual fee, which ever is greater. When use is both commercial and competitive, the higher fee is charged.” McCoy said she expects the fees to relate to many events on Lake Havasu, including regattas.
Traub said the CVB did an analysis based on 15 events the organization promoted in 2009 and did a cost-estimate to find out the difference the new fees could make.
“It would mean an increase in a minimum of $30,000 just among those 15 events,” Traub said. “With the competitive events and the per-participant fee, the $4,000 that was spent last year would turn into $120,000. Total exposure, we could be looking at as high as $300,000 and that’s just from those 15 events.” In terms of possible revenue for the city, Traub said he sees potential for an “astronomical increase in fees and detrimental effects to our revenue stream.”
“We also estimate (the fees) would comprise about 25 percent of the estimated revenue of all of the events on the lake,” Traub told the Lake Havasu Marine Association members Wednesday evening. “It certainly infringes on the revenues our city relies upon. For all of these reasons, it is definitely not a plus for tourism in our community.”
Mayor Mark Nexsen met with McCoy Thursday in part to discuss the possible fees. “My emphasis was I realize they have a job to do. However, I have to look at the overall big picture, and we can’t have significant fees impact local events because they won’t come here anymore,” Nexsen said, adding that BLM Lake Havasu officials have showed a “willingness to work with the city.” “I said before we set any kind of rates in stone and before the cement begins to dry, I’d like to have an opportunity to sit down with them to say what is it we can do to not only meet their obligations but not drive events away from our city,” he said.
The BLM, in coordination with the city, removed all shoreline and floating vendors from Rotary Park and London Bridge beaches in July 2009. The City Council voted to deny access to two shoreline vendors for Rotary Park Beach in January after several citizens voiced concern during a regular meeting. BLM officials say they will honor the council’s decision and not allow permits at Rotary Park Beach. All commercial vendors were instructed to follow BLM requirements for filing a SRP application for consideration, review, and approval or denial, according to the environmental assessment.
City Councilman Dean Barlow also spoke about the potential impact of the fees at the Marine Association meeting. He read the following section of an e-mail received from BLM Assistant Manager Mike Henderson: “‘I hope that this is something that can be ironed out. … Again all of this is coming about after the City Council request for the BLM to begin enforcing commercial vending issues along the city beach areas of Lake Havasu. The issues did not stop there and are now continuing slowly throughout the area of BLM responsibility on Lake Havasu.’” “What that means to me is they’re blaming the whole thing on us,” Barlow said. “Well this obviously is going much, much, much further than vendors on our city beaches.”
Marine Association Executive Director Jim Salscheider said he is concerned and in the process of learning more about the fees and a possible course of action. “This could clearly have some ramifications on our tourism,” he said Wednesday. “We just don’t know the impact it’s going to have yet.” For further details on the possible fees in regard to the Special Recreation Permits, residents are asked to visit BLM California’s website at www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/recreation/recpermit.html.
Seeking to be performance boat capital
Calif. shop moves to Havasu, becomes only Skater dealer in area
By JAYNE HANSON
Published Friday, May 14,2010
A powerboat shop owner hopes his move to Lake Havasu City will make the town the performance boat capital of the West. West Coast Drives Service owner Vern Gilbert said he recently moved his 20-year business from Torrance, Calif., to Havasu in February. The shop services No. 6 Mercury Drives for high-end performance boats, such as Skater. Skater has recently made Gilbert's Havasu location the only authorized Skater sales and service dealer in the West. Skater offers
boats that range in size from 26-feet to 46-feet, said Gilbert.
Skater is the top of the line, he said. "If it were compared to a vehicle, it would be a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. These are for really high-end customers. Jim Salschieder, executive director of the Lake Havasu Marine Association, said he thinks it's great that the powerboat business opened here. "Because Vern (Gilbert) moved, all of a sudden all of the big boats that come here can be serviced," he said. "It will bring in business related to performance boating into Havasu. We could become the performance boat capital of the West. That is not a bad brand to have. (Havasu) could become a huge destination."
Gilbert said the recent Pacific Offshore Powerboat Racing Association Desert Storm event in April
swamped his shop. "There were 25 Skaters in Havasu during Desert Storm. (And I serviced) 19 of them,"
Gilbert said. The No. 6 Mercury Drives Gilbert works on delivers power to the boat's engine. "It is like a
propeller on an airplane. You are not going to fly without a propeller," he said.
"A high-end performance boat can cost between $500,000 and $600,000 with no engines and no
drives," Gilbert said. "By the time it gets to the water, the cost could be in excess of $1 million," he said.
"These are faster than race boats."Gilbert, who has been immersed in the powerboat race world since
1974, said performance boats are his passion. "I live for this stuff. I have been racing for 30 years,"
Gilbert said. Having Gilbert's service in town means the performance boater's can conveniently replace
parts and have their boats serviced, Salscheider said. Gilbert said he anticipates servicing 75- 80 percent
of the high performance boats west of the Mississippi River. His work is shipped in from all over the United
States, he said.
West Coast Drives Service is located at 1633 W. Acoma Blvd., the lakeside of the highway, in Havasu.
For more information, call Gilbert at 928-846-4478. Store hours are 7 a.m. to Monday through Saturday.
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Construction finishes on south docks
Windsor’s north docks set to close after Easter
By NATHAN BRUTTELL
Published Friday, April 2, 2010 10:44 PM MST
Boaters heading out this weekend will not only be able to enjoy brand-new docks but also won’t
need to worry about the logjams of the past couple of weeks. Contractors finished installing new
docks at the south ramp of Windsor Beach Friday morning, Lake Havasu State Park Manager
Tim Kristof said. Windy weather and higher than expected lake levels slowed the construction
as crews needed to clearly see the lakebed before installing any docks. The north and south
ramp docks will remain open this weekend before the north docks close Monday while
contractors begin work there.
“I think they’re a vast improvement,” Kristof said. “I think the ramp extension especially is
going to work out well.” Officials closed the park last Saturday afternoon because too many
boaters on the north docks would’ve created a safety hazard, Kristof said, and there is still
the possibility of a closure next weekend.
“Everything will be open this weekend, which will be a really nice way to introduce the new
docks at the south ramp,” Kristof said. “We want people to come out and take a look and tell
us what they think. Next week unfortunately we’re in that same boat where we’re down to that
one ramp. So we’re asking for some consideration and patience while they’re installed.” Despite
delays due to rights negotiations and weather, officials expect all dock work will be complete
by Desert Storm later this month.
“We’re happy that the project is progressing at a rapid pace now,” said Ron Christofferson,
Arizona Game and Fish Department boating facilities manager. “We’re looking forward to the
completion of the project prior to Desert Storm, so it should work out really nicely.” The
completion of work at the south ramp means that “all significant construction is currently
complete at two-thirds of the main project sites,” Christofferson said. “Completion of the
north ramp renovation will take approximately two weeks,” he said.
Several state and local agencies, including Arizona State Parks, the Bureau of Land
Management, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the USFWS have collaborated on the dozen
or so processes required for the more than $600,000 in beachfront renovations at Windsor
State Park, according to officials. The new docks, made of aluminum construction, are set to
replace the 15-year-old docks currently at the park.
Lake Havasu Marine Association Executive Director Jim Salscheider previously expressed
frustration with the delays but said the new docks are much needed at the park. “We’re
going to just cross our fingers and hope nothing disrupts our schedule,” he said previously.
“These docks will be something special once they’re all in.”
Boat show powered up and running
By JACKIE LEATHERMAN
Friday, March 12, 2010 11:24 PM MST
Pick up the February 2010 issue of
Powerboat magazine and check out
the front cover highlighting “The
World’s Fastest Boats.” Then head
down to the Lake Havasu Marine
Association’s 19th Annual Boat
Show at Lake Havasu State Park —
and see that boat in person.
Although no one may be whipping
out their checkbook this weekend to
out right purchase the Douglas
Marine Skater Super Sport 44-foot
long, 12-foot wide, two-1,250
horsepower engine-machine valued
at slightly more than $1 million. But before the first hour even ended after the event kicked off at noon Friday, someone had already whipped out a checkbook. “We always sell more boats,” said Mark Matt, president of locally based USA RV Marine, who sold a Voyager pontoon boat before 1 p.m. Friday. He said the company sold eight boats last year at the event, and 11 the year before. Matt said that although his sales have been down about 50 percent, he used his sales pitch to remind people that now is a good time to strike a deal. “(We’re) surviving,” he said.
Bob Sepulveda, director of sales and marketing, for Lake Havasu City-based Advantage Boats, said his industry is in the “same state as the country.” “We’re going to hang in there,” he said, adding that they sell more boats during the local event than when they go to boat shows in the Los Angeles area. Sepulveda predicts in two years, he’ll start seeing his sales up where they should be. “We’ll get the tail of that wave,” he said. “It’s going to take a while.”
Steve Lau, a salesman at Walt’s Motor Sports here in town, said the weekend is a major event for them. “It usually brings in sales,” he said. By 2 p.m. Friday, already 1,000 people had walked through the gates to attend the free event. “This is the biggest show they’ve ever put on,” said Wayne West, events coordinator for the Lake Havasu City Marine Association. “This show is actually bigger than the LA show, and the scenery is better.”
For Ron Sheridan, who is visiting Lake Havasu City for a month — the event brought some wide eyes. “We’re from Duluth, Minn., and we’ve never seen boats like this,” he said. The free event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at Lake Havasu State Park Windsor 4.
You may contact the reporter at jleatherman@havasunews.com
Top high performance boats to kick show up a notch
By NATHAN BRUTTELL
Friday, March 12, 2010 7:09 AM MST
“I think this year we’re going to start coming into our own as one of the top performance boat shows in the country,” Salscheider said, adding this year’s show is expected to bring in 14 manufacturers, compared to the eight last year. “We’re doubling up on everything. Last year, we had 16 vendors and this year we’re already looking at 34. It’s huge.” The show, which is free to the public, opens from noon to 6 p.m. today, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at Lake Havasu State Park Windsor 4. Attendees are asked to use free parking areas either at the city lot next to the Hampton Inn or inside Lake Havasu State Park. Salscheider said he invites residents to take a look at boats and perhaps do something that’s not possible at other boat shows.
“This show is going to be a nice successor to the (Los Angeles) boat show because they may have gotten people interested in a boat there, but people maybe didn’t buy because they wanted to take a ride in it and test it out,” Salscheider said. “Well, now those prospects at the LA show and others here will now be able to come and take a ride on the lake.”
Salscheider said he attributes the sudden expansion for the show to one man — Bob Teague of Teague Custom Marine, the official sponsor of the show. “We suffered along with construction and other industries in the last couple of years. We were facing the prospect of a much smaller show this year for something that has been a good piece of the economic pie for the city,” Salscheider said. “And then, to the rescue came Bob Teague — one of the premiere engine builders in the country. … Now we’re bringing in more manufacturers than the LA Boat Show. That’s the result of Teague’s excitement and influence.” Teague, out of Valencia, Calif., said his impression as the premiere sponsor of the Desert Storm races convinced him he wanted to do more in Havasu.
“Jim contacted us six months ago and said he wanted to move this thing to the next level,” Teague said. “So he asked me, with my marine industry influence, to get it going. I’ve seen the pretty large impact boating has on the economy out here first hand so I wanted to do more for it.” Salscheider and Teague agreed that Lake Havasu City has what manufacturers and buyers need. “First of all we have the lake. There are not many places in the country you can go for a lake and the weather we have like this,” Salcheider said. “We’ve always had a number of manufacturers out here and things like Desert Storm have really helped bring more people here for these high performance machines. You put all of that together and that is part of our mystique and attraction. Hopefully we can keep growing this thing and that will help our economy.” Teague said the show could become “the premiere performance boat show in the West,” but he wants it to be even bigger. “We’re really trying to make this the high performance boat show on the planet,” he said. “But this year is the first step.”
You can contact the reporter at nbruttell@havasunews.com
Settin’ docks on the bay
Today's News-Herald
Published Tuesday, March 2, 2010 12:50 AM MST
Jackie Leatherman/News-Herald Photo
Crews work to install one dock at Windsor Beach Area 4 in the Lake Havasu State Park Monday afternoon. Arizona Game and Fish Department funded the $600,000 dock project that will allow boaters to drop off passengers without having to drive up onto the beach, according to Fred Adler, president of London Bridge Marine Corp., the local subcontractor on the project. Several docks are scheduled to be installed in the coming weeks.
BEGINNING TO BUILD
By Nathan Bruttell
Today's News-Herald
Published Saturday, February 27, 2010 7:07 AM MST
Engineers installed the first of several new docks this week on the west side of the south ramp at Lake Havasu State Park. “This is a brand-new dock that has never been there before,” said Ron Christofferson, boating facilities program manager with Arizona Game and Fish Department. Next up for the $600,000 dock project will be dock replacement at Area 4 next to the Channel entrance.
Lake Havasu State Park Manager Tim Kristof said the south side docks are scheduled to be closed for two to three weeks beginning March 1 to allow time for construction and weather is the main factor. The south ramp cove will be buoyed off and not open for vessel entry during this time, and the north ramp will be open for vessels to launch and retrieve, Kristof said.
Engineers installed the first of several new docks this week on the west side of the south ramp at Lake Havasu State Park. “This is a brand-new dock that has never been there before,” said Ron Christofferson, boating facilities program manager with Arizona Game and Fish Department.
Next up for the $600,000 dock project will be dock replacement at Area 4 next to the Channel entrance. Lake Havasu State Park Manager Tim Kristof said the south side docks are scheduled to be closed for two to three weeks beginning March 1 to allow time for construction and weather is the main factor.
The south ramp cove will be buoyed off and not open for vessel entry during this time, and the north ramp will be open for vessels to launch and retrieve, Kristof said. Nathan Bruttell/News-Herald Photo.
Dock building to begin Monday
By NATHAN BRUTTELL
Today's News-Herald
Published
_________________________________
State Parks Bill
Jay Ziemann, assistant director of Arizona State Parks, said his agency is counting on revenue from Lake Havasu State Park, according to Cronkite News Service. “By giving the park to the city, it will only hurt the public,” Ziemann said, according to Cronkite News Service. “We would eventually have to close even more parks, and that is not benefiting anyone.” Ziemann said Arizona State Parks is anticipating that by 2011 Lake Havasu State Park will generate $424,000 more than it costs to operate, in large part through more efficient use of staff and increased fees, according to Cronkite News Service.
“I spoke to the practical matter of how we can incorporate that park into the municipal park system,” Cassens said. “I also spoke about our interest in keeping the park open and basically outlined why we think it’s a good idea.”
One provision of the bill, which discusses length and lease payments, came into question during the hearing. The bill “specifies that, if the lease agreement is agreed to by the city or town, the lease agreement will last for 25 years with lease payments not exceeding $50,000 per year.” Cassens said those are initial provisions and will most likely change. “The bill was not acted upon and the term of the agreement was one question and amount of the lease payment was another issue,” he said. “We believe it will be further discussed in a stakeholders meeting later this week and there is a good possibility it will be heard again next week.”
Nexsen said he was almost certain the proposed lease would not pass at 25 years.
“I think the general consensus from the committee was that they would like to see a lease of less than 25 years and we spoke about 15 and I think that would be an adequate amount,” he said. “I know we certainly would not want it to be a 3 to 5 year lease because who in their right mind would invest a lot of dollars just to have it taken away from you a couple years later? We understood 25 may be too many but thought 15 would be the right amount.”
Monday, February 1, 2010 11:31 PM MST
Keeping fingers crossed, several officials are hopeful new docks could be installed at Windsor Beach by April. After the completion of several processes from various state agencies, dock construction should begin as early as next week, said Arizona Game and Fish Department Boating Facilities Manager Ron Christofferson. Several federal and state agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, the Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have collaborated on the $600,000 in beachfront renovations at the Windsor launch site in Lake Havasu State Park, according to officials. The new docks, made of aluminum construction, are set to replace the 15-year-old docks currently at the park.
Lake Havasu State Park Manager Tim Kristof and game and fish officials are currently working on a construction schedule that will not interfere with any scheduled events at the park, Christofferson said.
“We want to have the least amount of impact on those previously scheduled events that we can,” he said. “We may alter the schedule to be at one location so
Monthly Meeting Aug 18th, 2010 6:00pm @ Shugrue's
BEER&BRATS -SPONSORED BY ROMER BEVERAGE Sep 4th, 2010 6:00pm @ BOAT BROKERS
Performance Club " Fun on the water thru education and safety"
Website design and maintenance aah design concepts
