Pier, kayak launch opened
Published 8:11 pm Saturday, April 23, 2016
Using fishing poles, city officials “cut the ribbon” on the new pier and kayak launch at Sleepy Hole Park Saturday. Pictured, from left, are Councilman Mike Duman; City Manager Patrick Roberts; John Wass, of the Nansemond River Preservation Alliance; Mayor Linda T. Johnson; and Councilman Roger Fawcett.
With a flip of their matching fishing poles, Suffolk leaders formally launched the city’s new $467,000 pier and floating kayak launch in North Suffolk’s Sleepy Hole Park on Saturday.
The sun remained out long enough for ceremonies and ribbon cutting. But menacing rain clouds and winds picked up, dousing any opportunities for the small crowd on hand to try out a kayak.
The new 361-foot-long pier — the city’s first public access for non-motorized boats on the Nansemond River — is the culmination of eight years of dreaming, brainstorming and lobbying by Suffolk River Heritage, said chairman Karla Smith. Her organization and the Nansemond River Preservation Alliance, an organization formed in 2010 to help protect the waterway, have worked together to increase access for non-motorized boating in the Nansemond and its tributaries and raise public awareness of the historical and environmental value of local waterways.
Christine Lucero, partnership coordinator for the National Park Service, points out the newly unveiled John Smith Chesapeake National Historical Trail sign at Sleepy Hole Park, near the kayak launch.
The organizations also unveiled new local signage about Sleepy Hole Park, the local part of a three-section kiosk recognizing the Suffolk Water Trail as part of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historical Trail. The Nansemond and Bennett’s Creek were included as part of the 3,000 miles of waterways that Capt. John Smith traveled more than 400 years ago.
The new pier also enhances the quality of life for residents, who have ranked trails and other recreational facilities as a high priority for the city, according to Mayor Linda Johnson.
“This was a group effort,” Johnson said.
John Wass, the NRPA’s public access committee chairman, noted that the project is the result of years of working together by the NRPA, Suffolk River Heritage, National Park Service and the city of Suffolk’s Department of Parks and Recreation, particularly planner Mike Kelly.
“This is a model partnership,” said Christine Lucero, partnership coordinator for the National Park Service. “They don’t get bent out of shape when bad things happen. They just figured out solutions to obstacles and kept going forward.”
A similar kayak launch is under construction at Constant’s Wharf and is set to open this summer. An educational kiosk will also be erected there.
