BoatU.S. honors Rep. Williams, Morehead City

Rep. Art Williams was honored by BoatU.S. for rewriting a law that now allows anglers and boaters to trailer their boats on weekends, at night and during holidays. The previous law resulted in damage to N.C.'s economy and sport fishing.

His bill helped defeat anti-boat-trailering law; city’s work will add boat ramps and trailer parking

Boat Owners Association of The United States honored N.C. Rep. Art Williams Dec. 8 with a Boating Access Award for his successful sponsorship of legislation, HB 2167, to revise a state law for trailer boaters that was preventing trailers wider than 8-feet, 6-inches from access to state roads during weekends, holidays and at night — all prime travel times.

Prior to the law, enforcement actions had led some boaters and anglers to think of the state as unfriendly to boating, and many fishing tournaments left the state. The legislation overcame misinformation spread by state agencies, had to pass 11 committees and also overrode a veto from Governor Mike Easley.

“In each case, these projects represent excellent examples of the boating public’s ability to work together with community leaders to make an effective, reasoned case for expanding access,” said Charles Holmes, member of the BoatU.S. National Advisory Council, and an executive with Boy Scouts of America who served on the Access Award judging panel.

Morehead City officials also earned a Boating Access Award, along with projects at five other states, for a range of innovative solutions for communities struggling to keep their waterfronts open to boaters, anglers, and citizens.
Morehead City developed a long-range water access plan that has led to several new access sites for small boats during the past 10 years, plus a 10-slip transient facility for cruising boats that opened last year. The plan will culminate with a new boat launching area, Radio Island North, now under development. When finished, the project will provide the coastal town with a population of 10,000 with eight to 10 new ramps and parking for 140 tow vehicles and trailers.

Communities that improve boating access can reap economic rewards that local and visiting boaters bring to merchants, restaurants and service providers.

BoatU.S. created the awards program in 2007 to highlight successes in protecting water access as boaters and communities were losing marina slips, service yards and boat launching areas in many parts of the country.
Two projects added new boat launching facilities in their communities on Lake Erie in Sheffield Lake, Ohio, and Lake Superior, near Duluth, Minnesota.

In Florida, BoatU.S. recognized the City of Gulfport on Boca Ciega Bay for its Municipal Mooring Field to serve transient as well as local boaters.

In Glade County syLake Okeechobee, a public-private partnership between the City of Moore Haven and the owners of River Forest Yachting Center in Stuart, FL, will rebuild a dilapidated city marina as a key component to its downtown redevelopment.

The loss of boating access can take many forms, including how and when boaters may transport their boats to the water.
For information on the projects and winners, visit http://www.BoatUS.com/gov/AccessAward.