North Rosslyn has been asked to join in the movement to build a boat house in Arlington. Two of the sites under consideration are in Rosslyn. I have pasted below a discussion of boat house options that was provided by a strong boat house supporter. The letter below is addressed to the National Park Service, which is a key player in this debate, but the County Board is also a critical decision-maker. Please use this poll to indicate the position you believe that North Rosslyn should take regarding the proposed Arlington boat house.<BR><BR>The boat house advocate's letter to the park service is as follows:<BR><BR>Dear Superintendent Calhoun--<BR><BR>I offer the following summary views regarding the five options outlined in<BR>the June EIS newsletter distributed to the public.<BR><BR>1. Lower Rosslyn site -- this is an excellent location for an Arlington<BR>boathouse. It has been the site most consistently recommended for the<BR>location of this facility for over a decade by Arlington groups. It allows<BR>for a traditional boathouse of suitable size on the bank of the Potomac in<BR>an area characterized by excellent rowing water. There are ample parking<BR>garages only a short walk away in Rosslyn that can accommodate any number of<BR>users of the facility. There is no evidence to suggest that a significant<BR>number of shoreline boathouse users will utilize the parking lot built to<BR>serve visitors to Theodore Roosevelt Island, and there is normally excess<BR>parking available in that parking lot in any case. That lot is<BR>inconveniently located for most individuals wishing to come to row or paddle<BR>from an Arlington shoreline facility.<BR><BR>2. Upper Rosslyn site -- This is likewise an excellent location for an<BR>Arlington boathouse. Although use of the private piece of property (1101<BR>Lee Highway) or an adjacent piece of apparently excess VDOT right of way has<BR>only surfaced within the past couple of years as a viable site alternative,<BR>that alternative appears to resolve many of the concerns expressed about the<BR>lower Rosslyn site. A boathouse on the upper site would result in even less<BR>impact on the Roosevelt Island parking lot and the parkway in general since<BR>it would be additionally inconvenient for boathouse users to first park<BR>there and then walk back up toward Rosslyn to reach the boathouse. On the<BR>other hand, use of on-street parking and parking garages in Rosslyn would be<BR>that much more attractive to boathouse users. The facility would be<BR>remarkably close to the Rosslyn Metro station--especially when the new N.<BR>Lynn St. entrance is built to the station as part of the upcoming Waterview<BR>project development. Although the need to transport canoes, kayaks and<BR>rowing shells from the boathouse down to the shoreside dock would be a<BR>negative, there is no indication from rowers or coaches that this is a<BR>serious impediment to use of an upper Rosslyn facility. Such a facility at<BR>this location would more clearly integrate this recreational asset into the<BR>fabric of Rosslyn. It would also solve a lingering problem faced by<BR>Arlington County (and the Park Service) of what appropriate use to make of<BR>the .6 acre of privately owned land that constitutes the 1101 Lee Highway<BR>site adjacent to the federal lands of the George Washington Memorial<BR>Parkway.<BR><BR>3. 14th Street Bridge site -- this is a very poor, actually unacceptable,<BR>site for the location of any rowing facility. The unsafe water conditions<BR>are the major impediment to use of this site. Rowing shells do not have<BR>enough freeboard to be safe to use where there are waves. Waves are a<BR>regular occurrence at this location and points downstream due to the natural<BR>winds and the broad expanse of the river at this point. Such turbulent<BR>water can lead to swamping of boats, capsizings, and participant injury and<BR>death. Within the past several months there have been two different<BR>occasions when large crew boats got into trouble in rough water near the<BR>14th Street Bridge (in one instance) and near Daingerfield Island (in the<BR>other instance). The Harbor Police had to be called out to assist in the<BR>rescue of the rowers. An even more tragic event within the past month<BR>resulted in the death of a young Alexandria rowing coach. All of these<BR>events were well covered in The Washington Post. This site also suffers<BR>from bad logistics. It is very difficult for most prospective users to<BR>reach since the existing parking lot can only be access from the northbound<BR>lanes of the Parkway. Most anticipated users live north of that point. A<BR>facility here would add substantial motorized traffic to the Parkway. The<BR>existing parking accommodations at Gravelly Point are inadequate for the<BR>current uses in the area. Thus to accommodate a boathouse, the existing<BR>parking lot would at least need to be doubled in size--thus radically<BR>increasing the hardscape along the shoreline. The lengthy access road<BR>proposed for the boathouse would only increase this excessive pavement.<BR><BR>4. Daingerfield Island site -- this is not an acceptable rowing boathouse<BR>site for all of the reasons cited for the 14th Street Bridges site. In<BR>addition at this location one would have regular conflicts between those<BR>rowing and those sailing, since their travel patterns on the water are quite<BR>different and basically incompatible. The Daingerfield Island sailing<BR>marina is a great success. It would be unfortunate to undercut this success<BR>by overloading the area with an incompatible usage. I also question on<BR>environmental grounds the idea of chopping down and removing the substantial<BR>amount of shoreside vegetation--including many trees--that would be needed<BR>to install an adequately sized rowing facility here. There is also the<BR>final point that this site is outside Arlington County and thus<BR>jurisdictionally unacceptable. The whole point of this decade-long effort<BR>has been to identify an access point to the river within Arlington County<BR>that would permit various forms of rowing and paddling for local residents.<BR><BR>5. The no action alternative -- this is not an acceptable outcome of the<BR>present process. The federal government gave assurances to Arlington County<BR>as far back as 1934 that the County could in the future secure again access<BR>to the river in the Rosslyn area. This has been a long unfulfilled<BR>promise--one that should be an embarrassment to federal officials at this<BR>time. It is simply not right to require citizens living in Arlington to<BR>have to travel to the District of Columbia (or even to Alexandria) in order<BR>to get access to the river in order to row or paddle. The County has over 8<BR>miles of shoreline. Reasonable accommodation of the County's need for<BR>direct access to the river for non-motorized recreation should be provided.<BR>The public outcry for such access has grown stronger over the years. The<BR>several years of study of boathouse sites have identified two locations that<BR>are--from the standpoint of the local citizenry and local<BR>officials--perfectly acceptable for the siting of a water-based recreation<BR>program. It would be unconscionable for the National Park Service to select<BR>a no action alternative in the light of this demand and the existence of<BR>multiple suitable sites.<BR><BR>Thank you. Please place me on your email list for future information on<BR>this EIS study.<BR><BR>Robert Swennes<BR>6101 N. 22nd Street<BR>Arlington, VA 22205North Rosslyn should support the creation of a boat house in Rosslyn.North Rosslyn should support the creation of a boat house in Arlington but not express a preference as among the proposed Arlington sites.North Rosslyn should support the creation of a boat house in Arlington but should urge that a non-Rosslyn site be selected.North Rosslyn should oppose the creation of a boat house in Rosslyn.North Rosslyn should take no position on this issue.