January 15th, 2013

By the end of the 2011 sailing season, it became apparent that some great things
were happening at DCLSA.  The total Club membership was growing
(approaching 190 families including progeny) and the members were using the
clubhouse.  With that in mind, the DCLSA Board of Governors (BoG) asked me
to put together a group of members for the Long Range Planning Committee. 

The Committee is together now and features expertise in just about every
field that we would need to address the future needs of the Club.

The
initial item that the BoG wanted to evaluate was how to make the kitchen more
efficient and
upgrade it to service 200 families.  Additionally, the
Committee was asked to consider what we could do with our existing Clubhouse
structure to service the current needs and at the same time form a vision of
planned enhancements in the future.

Such an assignment would
appear to be an easy task, but after our first Committee meeting it became
apparent that we needed to have an open candid discussion with the
membership about the issues that face the Club.  The last time I was asked
to undertake such a planning task, I worked with Marty Nahemow and we sent out a
questionnaire from which the BoG was able to
prioritize items.  This
included projects such as the lower patio, back steps, upgrading the parking lot
lighting, etc.

Due to the complexity of the issues and the
many variables that we are facing, the Committee felt an internet blog might be a good way
to get conversation flowing regarding the multiple issues that face the
Club.  We are dividing the area for comments into the
following
sections:

         parking
and ramp area, building and grounds, docks and moorings, and membership. 


I have included some questions under these
categories.  The questions are there solely to help stimulate discussion
and extract good
ideas. 

                                            
Your input is greatly
appreciated.

Building and grounds:
To help
us address our septic needs, the Committee has asked the BoG to put a water
meter on the water main so that we know can trend our current water/septic
usage.  Are we limited by the septic field capabilities? Are we
optimizing the use of the two septic
fields?


Membership:
Our current membership is
capped at 100 active memberships with no cap on progeny memberships. 
Should we have a cap on total membership? How would you feel if such cap
prevented your child or grandchild from joining the club?  Should we have a
cap for attendees to events?  Should we look at rising to cost of
membership or events to help with overcrowding
issues?

Parking and ramp
area:
As good neighbors, the Club must manage cars,
trucks, trailers, and boats in the parking lots.  How can we increase our
current parking capacity?  Should we move the school boats and part of the
sea wall, so that the Lasers and Flying Scots can launch at the same time in the
current area?  Any other waterfront changes needed?  Do changes
require DNR approval?

Building and grounds:
To
ensure the enjoyment of the memberships, we must optimize the use of the entire
Clubhouse.  How do we eliminate choke points at events?  What could be
done to increase seating to accommodate the current membership size?  Would
raising the lower deck to upper deck level provide more useful seating at major
events?  What changes would make to the kitchen, bar, main pavilion,
toilets, etc. better serve the membership?  Should we consider metal roll
up blinds for the
patio?  At what point do we stop trying to fix and
repair, and just replace hardware, equipment, and
components?

Docks and
moorings:
Forty eight moorings and two large docks
require considerable attention.  Should we offer space for boat lifts on
the Verkouteren side of the Club docks?  Should we build a launch ramp/dock
that can be used to walk Flying Scots from a launching trailer to the dock while
the Lasers launch from the dock system?  Such a system exists at the U.S.
Olympic Sailing Training site at US Sailing Center in Miami, Florida.