Water Street boat launch on track

After a meeting yesterday of state and federal officials responsible for permitting construction of a trailered boat launch into the Winnispesaukee River planned for a site off Water Street, Lee Perry, Executive Director of the New Hampshire Fish & Game Department said that "a number of things are coming together and we expect to file an application this fall."

Perry said that the inter-agency meeting was intended "to get everybody involved on the same page and to identify any obvious red flags before applying for the permits required to proceed with construction."

The project got underway a year ago after the sale of Sarge's Country Store at Mosquito Bridge left the boat ramp at Martel's Sport Shop on Winnisquam Avenue the only remaining access to Lake Winnisquam open to the general public. Faced with unmanageable crowds of boaters, Ralph Langevin, who then owned Martel's, closed the ramp, insisting that it would remain shut unless Governor Craig Benson assured him a public launch would be built within a year. Less than a week later Benson, accompanied by Perry, shook hands with Langevin in the middle of Winnisquam Avenue and state and city officials began planning the launch on land across the Winnipesaukee River that houses the headquarters of the Winnipesaukee River Basin Project and two storage buildings owned by the city.

Despite a few loose ends, Perry said that "everything looks favorable." In particular, he said that test borings indicated that there was less organic material on the site than originally anticipated and that no adverse environmental impacts from the project. "We expect to apply in the fall and start work in the spring," Perry said. "I hope to have a ribbon-cutting this time next year."

Construction of the launch will be financed by the Public Water Access Fund, which is funded from boat registration fees, and a federal matching grant. The city has provided 1.4-acres of municipal land to the project, which will be used as an in kind contribution to leverage federal funds. In return, the state will pay for the construction of the two storage buildings on another city-owned property. "I don't anticipate any problems with the funding," Perry said. He explained that originally the project was estimated to cost between $750,000 and $1-million, including the cost of the two storage buildings, but ventured that the final cost could be closer to $500,000. "We'll spend whatever it costs to do it right," Perry said, "but I think the original estimates are high."