IMPROVING RECREATIONAL BOAT
ACCESS TO SALT WATER
By: John R. Fiore, Associate Planner
Broward County Parks and Recreation Division
December 13, 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Current Status of Boating in Broward County
Page 2
Existing Broward County Boat Ramps
Page 2
Boating Access Strategies in Other Florida Counties
Page 3
Marine Advisory Committee Recommendations
Page 4
Funding Boat Ramp Construction
Page 4
Additional Considerations
Page 5
Conclusion
Page 6
ATTACHMENTS
Map of Broward County Boat Ramps
List of Public Boat Ramps in Broward County – 2006
Memo to County Commissioners Recommending Boating Facilities
Letter to County Mayor Recommending More Boat Ramps
Minutes of Meeting with City Officials Concerning Boat Ramps in Broward County
Outline of Pinellas County Status of Boating Access PowerPoint Presentation
Marine Facilities Needs Survey – 2004
Vessel Registrations in Florida - 2005
Article “Pinellas County Pushes Boat Access”
Article “Does Florida Need More Boat Ramps?”
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Current Status of Boating in Broward County
Broward County is the home of one of the largest boating communities in the country. The latest
registration numbers available (2005 calendar year) indicate that there are 51,105 registered power
vessels in Broward County. This figure includes all boats with an engine, including sail boats, but
not including human powered canoes and kayaks. Only two counties in Florida have more registered
boats, Miami-Dade and Pinellas Counties. However, those two counties do not have nearly the
number of seasonal boats plying their county waterways. A study done by the Broward County Parks
and Recreation Division in 2002 showed that 2,389 boats over 40’ visit Broward County during the
winter. That is more than 20 miles of yachts that are looking for a place to dock. Fort Lauderdale is
the home of the largest boat show in the world and is also known as the “Yachting Capital of the
World”.
While the County is known for its megayachts, more than 77%, (39,668) of the registered boats are
26’ or less. Boats of this size are typically considered trailerable. Additionally, boats up to 30’ are
now being trailered, however it is unable to be determined how many of those boats are actually
trailerable. While Broward County has hundreds of miles of navigable waterways and canals, and
thousands of waterfront homes, many of these boats are kept in the yards of non-waterfront private
homes and are trailered to local boat ramps to access the public waters.
Existing Broward County Boat Ramps
Currently there are 38 public boat ramps in Broward County. Of those, only 15 access salt water.
The remaining ramps only allow recreational boating access to fresh water canals, and the
Everglades. Nine of the 15 salt water ramps are considered primary ramps that are close to the
Intracoastal Waterway, Hillsboro Inlet and Port Everglades Inlet. The rest are located up the tidal
rivers and canals and because of the distance to the inlets and Intracoastal Waterways are small ramp
facilities and are not very popular with boaters. These small ramps, while valuable, serve local
neighborhoods, and are not heavily used.
There are 1,187 vehicle and trailer parking spaces available at the 38 public boat ramps, but only 558
trailer parking spaces are at salt water ramps, and 479 parking spaces at the nine primary salt water
ramps. This is to serve more than 40,000 trailerable boats, plus vessels trailered in from out of the
county by tourists and seasonal visitors.
Many of the existing ramps were designed and built years ago, and do not meet current design
standards for the construction of new boat ramps. Many of the ramps are too steep, which makes it
difficult to launch and haul out larger trailerable boats. They were designed too narrow and can no
longer launch two boats at a time. Additionally, the parking lots were not designed to provide for a
smooth flow of traffic and require complicated maneuvering, which is always a challenge for a
novice boater.
The current problem at some of the more popular ramps is lack of parking spaces on a busy day. It is
not uncommon for boaters to park their vehicle and trailer blocks away from the ramp and walk to
their boat.
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Boating Access Strategies in Other Florida Counties
Broward County is not alone in identifying problems in providing access to waterways for boaters.
The problem of lack of public access for boaters was the main topic of discussion at the States
Organization for Boating Access (SOBA) National Conference held earlier this year in Tampa.
Government representatives from around the country agreed that continued pressure to privately
develop, or restrict waterfront property was decreasing boating waterway access.
In Florida, two counties have taken steps to improve access. Voters in Palm Beach County, which
has 37,180 registered boats under 26’, approved by 66% a $50 million bond to improve water access
in 2004. Palm Beach County set up a Boating Committee to look for land that could be made
available for the construction of boat ramps, marinas, and boat yards. So far they have spent $29
million to acquire the development rights for two existing marinas, as well as $2.5 million to acquire
land at Jupiter Inlet to construct a boat launch facility. Additionally, they are doing resource based
land management for their existing waterfront parks. This will include removing tennis courts and
ballfields that are located along the Intracoastal Waterway and replace them with boat ramps, docks
and marinas. Another project that is being considered is the construction of parking garages for boat
trailer parking at existing boat ramps where the lack of adequate parking is a problem. One idea that
they got from the City of Jacksonville is having off-site parking for boat trailers where volunteer
groups, for a small fee, transport the boaters from the off-site parking lot to the boat ramp and back.
Pinellas County, located between the Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay has 47,195 registered boats
under 26’ has also taken steps to improve access. They set up a Boating Access Task Force in 2005
to develop recommendations to help ensure continued public boating access in Pinellas County. The
task force was concerned with the conversion and loss of existing marinas, the need to make the
“cost of doing business cheaper”, the need to construct new boat ramps, expand existing boat ramps
and better managed boat ramp operations. They felt that solutions require a countywide approach
with considerations for municipal partnerships. Additionally, the task force looked at potential
solutions to site specific problems. Other key outcomes were boat ramp etiquette education and
staging area improvements; recommendations for land acquisitions and partnerships with
municipalities; Comprehensive Plan considerations for better protection of water dependent uses, nonet-loss and waterfront overlay concepts to be addressed in the 2007 EAR-based comprehensive
plan amendment package; intergovernmental coordination with municipalities related to specific
partnership opportunities; and funding opportunities.
Marine Advisory Committee Recommendations
The Broward County Marine Advisory Committee (MAC), created by the County Commission in
1974, recommended to the Commission on October 5, 2006 that the “County Commission
expediently construct as many new salt water accessible boat ramps, with parking, in the County as
possible.”
County Mayor Joseph Eggeletion requested that the Parks and Recreation Division prepare a list of
future sites for new salt water boat ramps to improve boating access. A list of six sites was prepared;
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reviewed, approved, and recommended by the MAC. The recommended sites were selected because
they were owned by a government agency, and were of a size capable of supporting the construction
of a boat ramp facility. Privately owned sites were not considered due to the high cost of acquisition.
There has been no discussion regarding the suitability of each site, the environmental impact, or
neighborhood concerns. The six sites are as follows:
Hollywood North Beach Park on the Intracoastal Waterway north of Sheridan Street in
Hollywood.
Aviation Division property behind Boaters Park on the Dania Cut-off Canal west of I-95
in Dania Beach.
A portion of Port Everglades along the Dania Cut-off Canal (Swerdlow Property) in
Hollywood.
Birch State Park on the Intracoastal Waterway, north of Sunrise Boulevard in Fort
Lauderdale.
Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND) property at the end of NE 12 Street in
Pompano Beach on the Intracoastal Waterway.
FIND property (Exchange Park) in Pompano Beach on the Intracoastal Waterway.
In addition, it is recommended that Alsdorf Park in Pompano Beach on the Intracoastal
Waterway be completely renovated to expand and increase the number of boat ramps and
to increase the number of boat trailer parking spaces; and that John U. Lloyd State Park
boat trailer parking lot be expanded to facilitate additional parking capacity. Other
locations suggested by the cities include the renovation and expansion of Pioneer Park
Boat Ramp in Deerfield Beach and a new ramp at the Birch Las Olas Marina in Fort
Lauderdale.
Funding of Boat Ramp Construction
There are numerous sources for funding the construction of new boat ramps and the renovation of
existing ramps besides using Ad Valorem tax dollars. Broward County retains a portion of vessel
registration fees and uses the monies to fund the Broward Boating Improvement Program (BBIP).
This funding source provides approximately $450,000 per year to the BBIP. BBIP Funds that are
unused collect interest and are retained for funding projects in future years. Cities and the County
submit BBIP grant applications to construct public boating facilities to the MAC, who then reviews
the applications and makes recommendations to the County Commission for the expenditure of the
BBIP funds. The County Commission approves the projects as part of the annual County Budget
process. Recent changes Florida Statute 328.72(15) concerning the expenditure of vessel
registration fees do not effect the funding of boat ramps, as they are still fundable under the revised
statute. The submission grant applications for this program are in September.
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The State of Florida, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) administers the Florida
Boating Improvement Program. This program is similar to the BBIP and is also funded with vessel
registration fees. Cities and Counties can apply for boating improvement grants to DEP for boating
facility construction funding. The submission grant applications for this program are in April.
FIND has their Waterway Improvement Program which funds waterway parks and boating facilities
along the Intracoastal Waterway and certain tributaries. They have a two phase grant program. Phase
I funds design, engineering and permitting, while Phase II funds the actual project construction. The
submission grant applications for this program are also in April.
Additionally, the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program and the Land and Water
Conservation Fund, both administered by DEP, could also be used to provide funding. All the
previously listed grant programs require cash matches. Many of the programs will allow funding
from one grant to match the other grant.
The most cost effective process for a local government to fund a boat ramp facility is to go to FIND
for a Phase I grant for design, engineering and permitting; go to the MAC for a BBIP grant for 50%
of the construction costs, and then go back to FIND for the remaining 50% of the construction costs.
The only out-of-pocket costs would be the 50% match for the design, engineering and permitting.
Additional Considerations
Studies done by the County have determined that a majority of boaters use their boats to go fishing
and Scuba diving offshore. These boaters prefer to use boat ramps that are close to an inlet to save
travel time and fuel costs. To encourage ramp usage at less congested ramps, the boat ramps closest
to inlets, could charge more for parking. Ramps farther away from inlets could charge less or
nothing, to encourage people to use less congested ramps.
Parking of boat trailers at popular boat ramps during a busy day, or a special marine event, can range
from difficult to impossible. Some ramp parking lots have a large enough foot print that could allow
for the construction of a parking garage for vehicles and trailers. However, this is an expensive
proposition due to the construction costs. Additionally, a boat trailer parking garage would present
an interesting design challenge due to the variable nature of vehicle/boat/trailer lengths and turning
radius, as well as ramp slope angles and floor heights. Construction costs incorporating such design
parameters would not come cheap.
Existing popular boat ramps are located on some of the most expensive land in Broward County. All
the ramps are surrounded by condominiums, businesses and single family homes. To expand the
sites by condemnation or other means of land acquisition would be extremely costly. The creation of
off-site parking at sites such as land-locked parks, during peak boating days, could alleviate some of
the existing problems at boat ramp parking lots. Boaters would launch their boats then drive the
trailers to a nearby off-site lot. Community buses could be used to transport boaters back to the
ramps. This process would be reversed when they return from their day of boating.
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Many existing boat ramp facilities only have capacity to launch two to six boats at a time. It takes
anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes to launch or retrieve a boat depending on the experience of the
boater. Therefore only four to six boats can be launched per hour on each ramp lane. To increase
launch and retrieval capacity, existing boat ramp facilities can be renovated to increase the width of
the boat lanes, and add more lanes. Years ago most trailered boats were 15’ to 20’. Now people are
trailering boats over 30’ in length. New trailer designs such as float on trailers make it easer to
launch and retrieve the boat, but substantially increase the length of the boat trailer as well as
lowering the ground clearance of the trailer. Older boat ramp designs had slopes of more than 18º.
High slope angles make it very difficult to pull the larger boats and trailers up the ramps. During low
tides, they frequently hang up at the top of the ramp. This slows up, or stops, the retrieval time.
Reconstructing the ramps with a slope of less than 15º would facilitate easier launching and retrieval,
decreasing the time a boater spends at the ramp, and increases the capacity of the facility.
Conclusion
By constructing additional boat ramps closer to inlets, boaters would be provided with increased
abilities to launch their boats without lengthy time delays that exist at current ramps. Additionally,
the redesign and reconstruction of existing boat ramps would also improve access to public waters
for boaters by creating more efficient boat ramp facilities. The creation of off-site parking lots for
boat trailers is a relatively inexpensive alternative to expanding boat trailer parking lots at existing
boat ramp facilities.
Improvements such as these and others previously discussed, will allow the majority of Broward
County boaters with greatly improved access to public waters.
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