Been away for a few years. Here in Spokane we lost are site and then the club. I just can`t take having all those boats in my basement and only playing by myself once in a while. SO, I am thinking I might try to convince the Local Paving company to give access to there Quarry pond. Any suggestions? Less than a mile from where I live, right in the middle of town, is a sizable pond that just recently the local Paving company shut down. Not sure why, the rumor I hear is there is no more gravel down there. It would make a wonderful site. In the past I have dealt with the County parks a little, so I am already familiar with Suits not being to warm to the idea. This I believe is mostly do to insurance problems. Guess my first question would be, Does any of the sanctioning bodies- NAMBA, IMPBA, provide any help along these lines, i.e. insurance. I know NAMBA used to, It just befuddles me that in an area with 1/2 million people there is no place safe to play.
Ponds- How does one go about acguiring the use?
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Ron Olson
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Contact John Equi at the IMPBA office as he has some info that might help you get the pond. Find out exactly who owns the waterway and talk with them. Take your IMPBA or NAMBA rulebook along with you and show them the part about the insurance especially and what our rules are. The noise limits are in there so point that out that we only run "quiet" boats.
Find out what local ordinances are as their dB limit may be lower than what the sanctioning bodies approve.
Get club members to help keep the area clean. Our site was a disaster area with overgrowth, garbage and a dead deer.
Gravel pits are really hard to get an OK for. It took us years to get the pond that we now have which is owned by a gravel company.
Find out what local ordinances are as their dB limit may be lower than what the sanctioning bodies approve.
Get club members to help keep the area clean. Our site was a disaster area with overgrowth, garbage and a dead deer.
Gravel pits are really hard to get an OK for. It took us years to get the pond that we now have which is owned by a gravel company.
what ron said is excellent info. the best thing to do is just ask. i have gotten access to a lot of PRIVATE ponds by just knocking on doors. larger private ponds are generally out in the country, less noise issues, less insurance hassles. think farm pond, not private estate. go to the front door first, be up front & explain what you want - worse they can do is say no 
. a surprising amount will say yes, in my experience!!
. a surprising amount will say yes, in my experience!!
anthony_marquart
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If you just going to run with a few guys or something,.. just be polite and ask. I have some success like that!
exactly, anthony. my approach is not for a club or races, just one more pond to test privately at
h34r: . or to fail in private at :unsure: :lol: :lol: .
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Kevin Krogness
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That lucky kid at your test pond has a great thing going for him!!!! Now if he just stays interested in boats!!!!
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I was about to start a thread on this very thing. I have experience with landing ponds in big cities (approximately 1 million). I've even been a part of teams assessing feasibility of bringing the full size Unlimiteds to Rio and San Francisco. I am currently working on trying to work with a city in making a park and "Official RC Park".
I was planning to share the steps of this experience for those that might be interested.
If you are dealing with a private owner of a lake or pond all that was posted before should be enough. Even for country parks a visit with the local ranger each time may get you what you want but may be inconsistent. My dad has done this with probably 80% success each time but no retreive boat and I the memory of the swim to prove it... but you can rig yourself up an electric retreive boat. I have seen a few posted.
If you want to deal with large cities it can be a little tough.
You can usually find names to department officials on the city website. You can start with a Parks and Recreation manager of some sort or call the number listed and see who they direct you to.
I will first I will say be patient. Just think where your boat hobby might fall on their list of to dos.
After two meetings the city officials tell me that if this is even feasible, expect it to be a year in the making. Next I will say.. Understand that the days of "FREE" public use of public facilities are fading if they have not already gone. Then you will need to understand city budgets and local economics. Then be flexible.
To put it simply you have to understand how the park sustains itself financially. The new term I learned here just recently is Cost Recovery. So they need to break even on every activity going on in the park or some percentage going in that direction. Sometimes they want 100% cost recovery other times maybe 50%. Sometimes even 30% or less than that. The percentage of cost recovery they may want on any particular activity usually depends on the entire program running at the facility as well as where those programs fall in importance to the local council. For example there is a local event that happens at the same park called Festival in the Park. It is 100% free. All the vendor booths are free. There are no sponsors but lots of activities. The event may attract about 1000 to 2000 people. At first glance I thought this event operated on 0% Cost Recovery but after discussing with park officials it was more like 40% because the even did generate parking revenue as every one that enters the park has to pay for parking. This is just one example.
So with that said I needed to show how the park could generate revenue to cover any cost they may incur as a result of our club using it as a permanent facility. In addition, I communicated that it was a family sport that nearly all ages could participate in. Then after laying down the feel good story I got to the nuts and bolts, which included maintenance on the facility that our club could take care of. I attached a dollar figure to that. I also estimated how much additional revenue could be generated in parking fees in their off-season (I live in California so there is decent weather almost year round). Off-season would be when the Waterslide park is closed as it attracts about 20,000 visitors a week in the high season. I also talked about membership fees and possible sponsorships. This brought me to a projection of cost recovery that I could present to the park officials.
It is due to these three things that I can say I have a third meeeting on the books. I just sent over a 24 page powerpoint. I was trying to upload it to my site but I am having FTP problems. If anyone is interested in seeing it I will be happy to email you a .PDF
At first the city officials were not real open to the idea but I requested that they simply communicate with me and give me a chance to make a case rather than just say no. So far they have granted me that wish and they have shared with me the inner workings of their committees as well as what I need to show or say to keep the project alive. So far so good.
It might help to get a club member as some sort of chair in the community as well. When they start talking behind closed doors it's good to have someone stand up for you when they start putting the axe to programs. People who are not represented are usually the first to go.
It's not easy and requires some patience. I can tell you that I would prefer to spend my time else where but I decided if I didn't put in the time it may be just a matter of time before there is no where to run anywhere near the metro area.
I talked about doing this for years until one day my dad said you have been talking about that for years. At that point I got off my butt and got to work.
I was planning to share the steps of this experience for those that might be interested.
If you are dealing with a private owner of a lake or pond all that was posted before should be enough. Even for country parks a visit with the local ranger each time may get you what you want but may be inconsistent. My dad has done this with probably 80% success each time but no retreive boat and I the memory of the swim to prove it... but you can rig yourself up an electric retreive boat. I have seen a few posted.
If you want to deal with large cities it can be a little tough.
You can usually find names to department officials on the city website. You can start with a Parks and Recreation manager of some sort or call the number listed and see who they direct you to.
I will first I will say be patient. Just think where your boat hobby might fall on their list of to dos.
After two meetings the city officials tell me that if this is even feasible, expect it to be a year in the making. Next I will say.. Understand that the days of "FREE" public use of public facilities are fading if they have not already gone. Then you will need to understand city budgets and local economics. Then be flexible.
To put it simply you have to understand how the park sustains itself financially. The new term I learned here just recently is Cost Recovery. So they need to break even on every activity going on in the park or some percentage going in that direction. Sometimes they want 100% cost recovery other times maybe 50%. Sometimes even 30% or less than that. The percentage of cost recovery they may want on any particular activity usually depends on the entire program running at the facility as well as where those programs fall in importance to the local council. For example there is a local event that happens at the same park called Festival in the Park. It is 100% free. All the vendor booths are free. There are no sponsors but lots of activities. The event may attract about 1000 to 2000 people. At first glance I thought this event operated on 0% Cost Recovery but after discussing with park officials it was more like 40% because the even did generate parking revenue as every one that enters the park has to pay for parking. This is just one example.
So with that said I needed to show how the park could generate revenue to cover any cost they may incur as a result of our club using it as a permanent facility. In addition, I communicated that it was a family sport that nearly all ages could participate in. Then after laying down the feel good story I got to the nuts and bolts, which included maintenance on the facility that our club could take care of. I attached a dollar figure to that. I also estimated how much additional revenue could be generated in parking fees in their off-season (I live in California so there is decent weather almost year round). Off-season would be when the Waterslide park is closed as it attracts about 20,000 visitors a week in the high season. I also talked about membership fees and possible sponsorships. This brought me to a projection of cost recovery that I could present to the park officials.
It is due to these three things that I can say I have a third meeeting on the books. I just sent over a 24 page powerpoint. I was trying to upload it to my site but I am having FTP problems. If anyone is interested in seeing it I will be happy to email you a .PDF
At first the city officials were not real open to the idea but I requested that they simply communicate with me and give me a chance to make a case rather than just say no. So far they have granted me that wish and they have shared with me the inner workings of their committees as well as what I need to show or say to keep the project alive. So far so good.
It might help to get a club member as some sort of chair in the community as well. When they start talking behind closed doors it's good to have someone stand up for you when they start putting the axe to programs. People who are not represented are usually the first to go.
It's not easy and requires some patience. I can tell you that I would prefer to spend my time else where but I decided if I didn't put in the time it may be just a matter of time before there is no where to run anywhere near the metro area.
I talked about doing this for years until one day my dad said you have been talking about that for years. At that point I got off my butt and got to work.
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Jeff Barnhart
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Talk to Eric Bourlet, he's on here and is the NAMBA District 8 director. I'm in spokane for a lot of the year and it would be great to have something over here, I'm sure some of the club would make the trip over for a race if there are enough people and a site. I'm sure he will be able to help you out and would know about any insurance from NAMBA regarding that.
Ron Olson
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If racing is what you might have plans for, sometimes someone at your Parks & Recreation Dept. may ask you about how many people an event may draw. Don't shy away from the question as mine figured that for every person that showed up, they would spend an average of $100.00 per day in the city. OK, they may not but it's their slant on it. I was a little apprehensive at answering that one until I found out why they asked.
Someone at ours almost lost their job as they wanted to replace the NSRA Street Rod Nat's North for an arts and crafts show. The estimates were that the Hot-Rodders brought in $12-14 Million dollars during the 4-5 days that they were in town! Most of that was at gas stations, party stores, restaurants and motels.
Someone at ours almost lost their job as they wanted to replace the NSRA Street Rod Nat's North for an arts and crafts show. The estimates were that the Hot-Rodders brought in $12-14 Million dollars during the 4-5 days that they were in town! Most of that was at gas stations, party stores, restaurants and motels.
L
lohring
Guest
I'd love to see Spokane get a club and race site again. some of my favorite races were in the river behind the motel. It was a hard site to beat.
Our club has been very lucky to work with a private gravel company for over 20 years. The initial contacts were club members who knew employees in the company. One of these employees was even a modeler. As time went on, people retired, the company was sold, and things changed. However, continued good relations and a history of good behavior has kept things going. Roger has great ideas about dealing with government, but private owners are simpler, but also more difficult. If a private owner doesn't know you, the answer will usually be no. The early years of our club were spent traveling from pond to pond. Every time we asked, the answer was no. Persistence and contacts are the answer. You might check to see if model airplane fliers have a site with a pond.
Lohring Miller
Our club has been very lucky to work with a private gravel company for over 20 years. The initial contacts were club members who knew employees in the company. One of these employees was even a modeler. As time went on, people retired, the company was sold, and things changed. However, continued good relations and a history of good behavior has kept things going. Roger has great ideas about dealing with government, but private owners are simpler, but also more difficult. If a private owner doesn't know you, the answer will usually be no. The early years of our club were spent traveling from pond to pond. Every time we asked, the answer was no. Persistence and contacts are the answer. You might check to see if model airplane fliers have a site with a pond.
Lohring Miller
coolhotrods
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I would love to see Spokane get a club going and get a permanent race site also.My favorite memories are with Kelly G,Mark A,Russ N,Eric B,Mike H,coming over the mountains to race.We had lots of good times drinking, eating,and Go Kart racing.!Anyway we have ran in to a few problems in the last 5 to 6 years.One no real particapation from members. There was only about three guys that wanted to race.The other problem we ran in to was that are great site in down town Spokane, has been used up for the remoldel of are convention center.There is no acces to get in to the site hardly anymore,and all the noise is a problem when there is events going on inside.There has been other site we have used but, one was always way to windy, one was to small for 75 percent of the members. As of right know I'm working on a site but it is a good thirty minutes north of Spokane and it's a long shoot but I have a shoot so well see.The problem with the gravel pit in the past was, that there was way to many liability reasons for the company to let us use it..But if something has changed It would be a great place to run. Dustin
Kevin give me a call and well play toy boats some time.
Kevin give me a call and well play toy boats some time.
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When we had a nats held at this site I did use the whole pitch on bringing revenue to that city district with the extra bodies we were bringing to town for the event. In the end there was just not enough to impress anyone. Even the water park itself was not impressed with the increase to their Waterslide park. In comparison, they can have a company picnic or a church group bring in more revenue. So my best bet this time around was to show economic impact directly to the park over a long period of time rather than a short period. From that point of view it began to make sense and at the very least should present a break-even proposition. But when you have things like Festivals, Parades, and Full size motorsports events going on in the city it makes it tough to compete with space. So to combat that I push the family activity as well as the use of science and mathematics put to real use for kids providing a much more intellectually engaging experience than being a spectator at a full size motorsports event that most could not afford to participate in. And that seems to keep the conversation going.
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