By Janet Krenn
Colonial Beach Yacht Center (Colonial Beach, VA) and Chesapeake Boat Basin (Kilmarnock, VA) received Clean Marina designations this month. Virginia Institute of Marina Science and Virginia Sea Grant are proud partners of the Virginia Clean Marina Program, which recognizes marinas that voluntarily take measures to prevent or reduce pollution at their facility. There are currently 69 Clean Marinas in Virginia. Here’s more about the two newest additions to the Virginia Clean Marina family:
Colonial Beach Yacht Center
When a truck hauling six kayaks pulled into the Colonial Beach Yacht Center, Robin Schick clapped her hands and said, “This is a really big day!” Not only will her family’s marina offer kayak nature tours this season, but the center will also be flying a Clean Marina flag.
On May 11, 2011, Colonial Beach Yacht Center owner Kyle Schick and his daughter Robin received Clean Marina designation, making the Center not only the last deep port marina to Washington DC, but the only Clean Marina in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
For the Colonial Beach Yacht Center, the designation came almost nine years to the date after a fire had devastated the Yacht Center. Schick, commissioner on the Virginia Marine Resource Commission, has always wanted to make his facility more sustainable. Despite the loss that occurred during the fire, he said, “it actually gave us the opportunity to incorporate more durable, environmentally friendly products as we rebuilt.”
Today, the marina of more than 190 transient and permitted slips, sells biodegradable cleaners, handles can, bottle, and oil recycling, and has implemented a storm water management plan.
Robin, who gets credited with developing the storm water plan and implementing many of the Clean Marina measures, says she sees this as one more way her family’s marina can advance their mission. “Our motto is ‘Safe Boating, Clean Boating, Fun Boating,’” she says. “With Clean Marina, we are more valid in saying that.”
Chesapeake Boat Basin
On May 10, the Chesapeake Boat Basin was awarded Clean Marina designation, making the Boat Basin one of five Clean Marinas in Lancaster County, but the only one in Kilmarnock, Virginia.
When asked about what was the greatest challenge to becoming a Clean Marina, Clay Holcomb, owner of the Chesapeake Boat Basin, doesn’t mention the underground retention system he and his wife Lisa had installed to prevent storm water runoff. He doesn’t mention the recycling bins, pet waste containers, nor the supplies that he makes accessible to boaters for cleaning up accidental oil spills. Instead, he says modestly, “I think these are all just things that everyone should do.”
The Holcombs have done a lot recently to improve their amenities and expand their capacity, in addition to taking steps to becoming a Clean Marina. The Boat Basin not only has new a swimming pool and landscaping, it also has new a floating dock that includes 22 slips reserved for transient boaters.
With the installation of the floating dock, Clay says the Boat Basin has seen an increase from 30 transient boats in 2009 to about 300 in 2010. With this increased traffic, he says, it’s been important to educate his customers about waste disposal. The Clean Marina Program “is a great idea,” he says. “I don’t know why more people aren’t doing it.”
