HAMPTON, Va. — On Wednesday, the Hampton City Council deferred a decision on whether to sell the Sunset Creek Boat Ramp to a local yacht company that's right next door.
The decision comes after some Hampton residents voiced their opposition to the sale. They’re passing out flyers and stickers and they’ve even put up signs around the ramp asking city officials to "save the ramp."
Boaters who oppose the sale say water access should be for everyone, not just a select few.
“This is my one and only ramp that I use, for the most part," boater Brian Pirnik said. "It’s not an emotional attachment to the ramp, it’s the emotional attachment to the water access."
Word of the proposed sale has spread rapidly among the community. Pirnik started a Facebook group against the sale which has attracted nearly 300 members.
It’s become a big issue for boaters who say this is the only public boat ramp on the Hampton River.
“It is a popular ramp for the community, it’s the only public ramp on the Hampton River,” Claire Neubert said. “I really can’t support the idea of selling this ramp for a plan, it really needs to be that something already built.”
Boaters say if the ramp is sold and closed, they would have to pay to use private ramps that are further away.
“The master plan study they had of boating all across Hampton Roads, this was identified as one of the top five ramps in the area,” another boater, Cheryl Marek said. “This is the easiest place to launch from for a regatta, if we had to go all the way over to old point comfort then we’d be cutting across the shipping channel.”
Bluewater Yacht Sales wants to buy the boat ramp. Owner Earle Hall said his company has been in talks with the city for years regarding it.
Hall said boaters are missing the bigger picture.
“Everybody wants to fight about it before learning the facts,” Hall said.
He said the current ramp is old and the city can use the money from the sale to build a bigger and better ramp, and he’s already identified sites where a more modern boat ramp could be built.
“We don’t want to see a boat ramp go away and not a better boat ramp created," Hall said. "We want a better boat ramp and we feel like we have solutions to help the city find the proper site and build the proper boat ramp.”
Bluewater Yacht Sales wants to re-purpose the old ramp as a private access for larger yachts, which Hall said would help the economy.
Hampton city council member Chris Snead said she understands Hall’s position, but she also understands why boaters are upset.
“At this point in time, I’m going to vote against it but I’m hoping we can come up with a win-win situation and come up with an alternative site,” she said.
Snead said a win-win situation would be having a new ramp site already identified for boaters to use, before the ramp is sold.