The Seemingly Endless Saga of the MiniPond/Penfold Kayak Launch Ramp
Has come to an end. The Kayak Launch is open!
With proper hardware and help from Bob Kerby’s team, the kayak launch is now operational. I got the call with the good news from DPW at 10:44 this morning. Go forth and ’yak!
What was the holdup? Well, the short answer, according to Justin Towle, DPW, is that the company we bought the Ez-Dock launch from (Michigan Lake Products) didn’t provide the right fastening hardware for our particular situation, so concrete bolts and other implements had to be acquired elsewhere and modified or fabbed. I really must add here that Justin did patiently and thoroughly try to explain the intricacies of this to me and it just fell right out of my brain. [edited 7/15/24]
The original ADA accessible kayak launch, which was installed a few years ago with grant money from MNRTF, ended up being useless during the low-water period of 2022/3 — the extension was floating in the air over the low water and was an obvious safety hazard. During the April 2023 council meeting, Ken Bonney (DPW) said he was working on an extension to the launch, but Bonney and his assistant resigned soon after, at the end of April, and the new DPW personnel weren’t fully in place until summer of ’23. The Village had to shell out an additional $10,000, as President Wilkins noted in the August 2023 council meeting, to the manufacturer for a longer extension. This was in the middle of the huge lead-line and water main replacement project, which Towle and Chris Cervantes were heavily involved with. Towle and Cervantes were finally able to start trying to install the launch extension this early spring, when the water and beach projects were still in full swing. Those let up a bit, and then the hardware problem was discovered. There you go, that’s the extended (ha!) story.
“It’s been a huge headache for months now,” Towle said. He’s glad that people can finally get out and use this amenity.
I quite enjoy Emily's descriptions of that goes on in Elberta. I would read them even if I didn't have a stake in the place.
Congratulations, Elberta!