Funds for launch ramp awarded

Published 8:39 pm Monday, May 13, 2013

Kayakers and canoers will have a dedicated area at Havens Garden to launch their watercraft, probably sometime within a year or so.

“I am very excited to inform you we received our letter from NCDENR. We have been approved for funding to install the AccuDock kayak launch facility at the Havens Gardens Public Boat Ramp for the Pamlico-Tar Blueway System,” wrote Kristi Roberson, manager of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, in an email.

The money should be available around October, Roberson noted in her email.

The $10,000 grant from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources will be used to acquire and install the equipment. The city learned of the grant award by a letter from John E. Skvarla III, DENR secretary.

“I am please to announce that your 2013 Adopt-A-Trail application has been approved for funding,” Skvarla wrote.

The city, the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, the North Carolina Trails Committee and the state’s trails program are partners in promoting the development and management of sustainable trails and greenways across the state, Skvarla noted.

The City Council, during its meeting Jan. 14, gave its approval for the department to seek the grant. The money will be used to construct a canoe/kayak launch at the Havens Gardens boat ramp, recently renovated by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. The launch area would be an access point to the Tar-Pamlico Blue Trail and connect two existing trails.
The project’s cost is not expected to exceed $10,000, but any additional costs associated with the project would be included in the 2013-2014 budget, according to a memorandum from Roberson to the mayor and council.
No “matching” funds from the city are required, according to the memorandum.
The department partnered with the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation for grant application assistance, as well as involvement in the Blue Trail project. The Blue Trail project’s goal is to increase public access to the Tar-Pamlico River watershed.
The required Coastal Area Management Act permit for the project has been obtained.

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.