Coastal Access Survey 2008
Virginia Sea Grant and the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority are working to better understand public access needs and larger waterfront conflicts that may be occurring within the lower Chesapeake Bay region. The “Coastal Access Survey” is designed to gather this information.

We are interested in your perspective and experience on a variety of topics, including how you access public beaches and waterways, waterfront conflicts you may have experienced, and thoughts you might have about improving access to the coast.  We plan to use survey responses to broadly outline the scope of current access challenges and trends, to inform and set future public policy, and to qualify for future grant funding opportunities.

Definitions
For the purpose of this survey, "coastal access" is defined as any means by which you reach the shoreline of a navigable waterway to engage in a water-based activity. This includes commercial, recreational, subsistence, educational, and/or research activities.  "Access" may include direct access across public lands (beaches, coastal trails, water trails); access through public facilities or private enterprises requiring fees (such as port landings, marinas, stacked storage units, hoists, marine railways, and launch ramps); or access through membership organizations (such as yacht clubs and other private clubs). Condominium moorage where slips may be sub-let to non-owners also will be considered as "access" for the purpose of this survey. 

Excluded from this definition are private facilities with no provision for non-owners to access the adjacent shore or waterway (rental or condominium apartments with occupant- or association-owned beachfront or moorage, for example).

Waterways of the Middle Peninsula include the following: Rappahannock, Piankatank, York, Mattaponi, and Pamunkey Rivers, Mobjack Bay and associated rivers, and all other drainages within Essex, Gloucester, King and Queen, King William, Mathews and Middlesex Counties. Defining “navigable waterway” is very complex, but well defined by the U.S. Supreme Court.  For the purposes of this survey, navigable water is defined as “at a minimum, being able to float a canoe up to the ordinary low water line."

Any personal information we collect from you during this survey will remain anonymous.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY