Kingston waterfront news: March 2007
The Wolfe Island WIND PROJECT INFORMATION DISPLAY PANELS have been posted.
Here are direct links to the most intersting panels:
October 2009 UPDATE: These documents were originally hosted at http://www.wolfeislandwind.com/project_docs/ which is now offline.-
How Will Sailing be Affected?
- Visual
Simulation - from Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, Kingston
- Visual
Simulation - from Shoal Tower, Kingston
- Visual
Simulation - on Wolfe Island 1
- Visual
Simulation - on Wolfe Island 2
- Visual
Simulation - from Victoria Street Park, Wolfe Island
- Visual
Simulation - from Simcoe Island
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Turbine Lighting
COULD BE A GOOD TOPIC: Sailing And The Wolfe Island Wind Project.
Feel free to edit the page, and add your insights into it.
TWO TAKEAWAYS FROM THE WIND PROJECT OPEN HOUSE:
Firstly, for swimmers and windsurfers, it looks like they will be drilling at an angle from the shore outwards, and not trenching through the shoal at Paterson Park. That's good.
Secondly, those wind turbines are huge!. The rotors sweep a circle 93m in diameter, and the highest rotor point is 123m minimum, which of course will be visible from some distance.
NEW .COM AND .CA WEB ADDRESSES FOR K7: K7Waterfront.com and K7Waterfront.ca.
Now you don't need to remember the .org part of the K7Waterfront web address because .com and .ca work too.
REMINDER: THE PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE for The Wolfe Island Wind Project is this Wednesday, March 28, 2007 between 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Ambassador Conference Resort, 1550 Princess Street, Kingston.
In short, current plans lay the 237 kV cable right through one of Kingston's best lakefront swimming holes. Click here for diagrams and links to background materials.
A good thing: Kingston Yacht Club is running a BOAT LOAN PROGRAM.
The KYC Junior Sailing program has a limited number of boats for racing-level kids who do not have their own boat.
Do you have a Laser gathering dust in your garage, or hiding under your deck? Do you have an Optimist that your kids no longer use? If so, and if you would be willing to loan, charter or otherwise make it available to our Junior Sailing kids, then please contact Chris Walmsley at lts@kingstonyachtclub.com.
This sounds like something worth supporting.
A brand new 30-foot MetalCraft Marine fireboat SINKS AT THE DOCK in Newport News, VA.
Monday March 26 2007 update: VANDALISM IS SUSPECTED.
There are WATERFRONT ITEMS IN THE 2007-08 MUNICIPAL CAPITAL BUDGET which should be approved tonight.
- Under Culture and Rec
- Under Marinas
- $80,000 for Confederation Basin-Power upgrade on E and F docks. E-F docks are on your immediate right, jutting towards the Ramada, as you walk onto the main dock.
- $50,000 for POH Break Wall floating extenston
- $40,000 for POH Accessibility Upgrades
- $30,000 for POH, for the facings of D and E docks. D and E docks are the two closest to the grassy playground area.
- $10,000 POH launch ramp upgrades
- $40,000 for Confederation Basin-Marinas Business Case Study (?!)
- Under Planning and Development
- $75,000 for a Waterfront Strategy
- Under Properties
- $105,000 for various at the Marine Museum (roof, chimney)
MINIMUS SAILING TEAM FUNDRAISER on Tuesday April 3 at 1900, at the Kingston Yacht Club in the Partridge room. Tickets are $10 at the door. Donations towards the Nathan Baron's Mini Transat campaign will be greatly appreciated. The speaker is Brian Hancock, veteran of three Whitbreads, maxi catamarans, and Open 50's among other things.
Following days of conflicting reports, it's now official: OIL FROM MONDAY MORNING'S DERAILMENT LEAKS INTO CATARAQUI CREEK.
No change yet to most of the pages fetched by those menu items.
We can only speculate why 180 pixels across the top of page is wasted on whitespace, logos and images.
It seems they are still presenting radar imagery according to their internal worldview. Hands-up if you know where Franktown is located.
The proposed NORMAN ROGERS AIRPORT MASTER PLAN calls for approach lights, presumably mounted on towers, through Collins Bay Marina, across Collins Bay, over Bath Road, the rail tracks, and into the neighborhood along the flight path.
Yesterday The Whig Standard published this Notice of Application and Hearing for the underwater cable (see diagrams) that will link the Wolfe Island wind project with the mainland. People have until March 16th to make presentations of concerns on the matter, and until April 5th to send letters.
A notable point of contention is the plan to pass a 230 kV power cable through one of the best swimming spots on the Kingston side, on the mostly smooth flat rock off Paterson Park.
Could this please be done in a sensible and respectful manner, to minimize the possibility of flaking and erosion of the layered limestone bottom, both short and long term? Can we please pick the best place and best way to come ashore, one which might be just a few dozen metres one way or another, in recognition that people of all ages should be swimming barefoot there, say, for the next few centuries of summers?
Everyone concerned about this popular swimming/windsurfing area off the point near Paterson Park should send their comments to the Ontario Energy Board before April 5. You can send an email outlining why you think cable routing should absolutely respect people's continued long term bare-footed recreational use of the smooth flat-rock reef to boardsec@oeb.gov.on.ca. Be sure to include the file reference number EB-2007-0034 in the subject of your email.
Also City Councillor: Dorothy Hector
E-mail: dhector@cityofkingston.ca
Home Phone: 613-634-1732
Click here for diagrams and links to background materials.
More generally, see an interactive map of Kingston's waterfront parks.
THE LATEST GREAT LAKES WATER LEVELS FORECAST by the US Army Corps of Engineers shows that Lake Ontario water levels have dropped dramatically in the past month. Last month's levels forecast predicted little change through Spring. That's no longer the case.
Here's the BRIGANTINE "ST. LAWRENCE II" SCHEDULE FOR SUMMER 2007. See too the list of donated things they need, like a T.V. and VCR for classroom work, used laser printer, and other useful stuff you may have gathering dust.
NATHAN BARON'S MINIMUS SAILING TEAM WEBSITE IS UP. Read also CKWS-TV's coverage of the campaign launch last Wednesday night.
THERE'S INCREASING CONCERN FOR PATERSON PARK SHOAL, one of the best spots for swimming along the Kingston waterfront, and an exquisite sailboarding wave break.
The Wolfe Island Wind Project currently proposes to run its ~230kV cable in a trench through there.
Considering the underwater portion of the cable is already 7,500m long, surely doing a Smart Thing is possible.
Click here for diagrams and links to background materials.
