Proposed WhiteWater Kayak/raft park in Kansas.

kckayaker · Post by **kckayaker** » Tue Aug 19, 2003 2:41 pm

This is very very early in the devleopment but it is being proposed that a WhiteWater Kayaking\rafting facility be built near the KCK Superspeedway either in Bonner Springs or in Edwardsville along the Kansas River. We are looking to build support for this project. The proposed facility would be the only one in the midwest and would draw boaters and rafters in from an eight state region. This faciltiy would also host Junior Olymipic qulifying competitions as well as the possible I-70 slalom series currently held in Independance. The cost of such a project would greatly be offset by the income generated. Parks have been built in cities like Golden Colorado, South Bend Indiana, Denver, and elsewhere for less then $500,000 and based on the numbers being published bring in well over 2-5 million dollars a year in revenue to the city. If you are interested in hearing more contact me at

shawn@stormwatchsecurity.com

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Wed Aug 20, 2003 6:59 pm

I wouldn't use it, but I bet it'd be pretty popular. A lot of the wealthier Gen X and youger people like to do outdoorsy stuff even though they're born and bred in the 'burbs.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:47 pm

I voted yes because I would probably try it out once..sounds like a cool idea.

Brooksider · Post by **Brooksider** » Wed Aug 20, 2003 11:23 pm

I voted no but I still think it's a good idea. Maybe the new riverfront park would be a better location though. Don't there have to be rapids for white water rafting? The river seems so smooth. More like for canoeing. There is even a store in city market that sells and rents canoes and such.(If it's still there.)

kckayaker · Post by **kckayaker** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 5:39 pm

Thanks for posting everyone.

To clear up some issues. The KCMO riverfront park was looked at as an option but was quickly removed due to KCMO financial problems and the desire to use the park as it is currently designed.

Also, with regards to Brooksiders question about needing rapids, this course would be a man made course build above the river on the flood plane. This would allow us to use the water from the river without a need for a resevour and without damaging the eco-system of the river. Final plans have not be drawn up so this might change. Also, due to the fact that the Kansas and Missouri rivers are classifieds as Navigable rivers we won't be able to do much to the actual river. I hope this answers some questions.

kckayaker · Post by **kckayaker** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 5:50 pm

Here is a course design that was drawn up by a local architech who is also a kayaker. This course was proposed for Arkansas about would need some minor modifications, but you get the drift.

http://www.ozarkpages.com/whitewater/ar ... _info.html

ShowME · Post by **ShowME** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 9:52 am

The KCMO riverfront park was looked at as an option but was quickly removed due to KCMO financial problems and the desire to use the park as it is currently designed.

Huh? What financial problems? I didn't think KCMO was in any worse financial shape than any other metro city.

kckayaker · Post by **kckayaker** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 8:42 pm

We gave our presentation to the RiverFront Park Comittee of Bonner Springs the other night. We received lots of good questions, and lots of good feedback but due to the lay of the land, city funding and access we feel this is no longer a suitable location for our project. We have started to look to Lawrence as they have a city park, natural river formations and water flow that we are looking for . We hope to have the new website up soon.

kckayaker · Post by **kckayaker** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 9:58 am

To all those who voted yes on the poll, I invite you to come try you hand at basic kayaking. We have indoor pool time at our disposal in Independance Missouri durning the winter months if anyone would like to try basic kayaking and learn to roll a kayak in a safe and warm environment.

email me at shawn@stormwatchsecurity.com if you are interested. We can provide gear.

kckayaker · Post by **kckayaker** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 11:17 pm

The new Kansas Whitewater Association website is now online. This site contains preliminary information on proposed site locations, partners, images, video and presentation information. Please check it out

www.kansaswhitewater.org

Post by **bahua** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 9:57 am

The site doesn't render very well in Mozilla, and I noticed that it's labeled HTML 4.01 Transitional, so I ran it through the w3c's url validator. If you(or whoever made the site) fix the errors listed in the following url, your page will be standard, and will probably render fine on about any modern browser.

http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http% ... ewater.org

Also, I haven't heard enough reason from you as to why your group has ruled out downtown KC as a potential location. It seems to me that it'd be a perfect place for something like that.

kckayaker · Post by **kckayaker** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 11:59 am

Bahua,
Thanks for catching the rendering issue. I have been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to fully test this in every browser. I will work on that this weekend.

As for why we are not choosing downtown KC as a location there are many reason.

1. We find that Lawrence currently is more receptive to the proposal
2. the land bordering our proposal is city park land and the natural features are present in the river.
3. close proximity to I-70 and a vibrant local downtown.

One of the main problems with downtown KC is that in order to build any features in the river we would have to get Army Corps of Engineer permission. The features could not imped barge traffic and the features would have to withstand the change in the flow of the river both at low levels and at flood stages without being washed away. In Lawrence we have the Bowersock down that will negate most some of these issues we hope. We are still in our early stages so we might very well come back to downtown KC if other more promising ventures fail elsewhere.

Thank you

Post by **bahua** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 2:55 pm

What happened to what you said about building the setup outside the water, so as to keep from disrupting the natural state of it?

KCK · Post by **KCK** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 8:42 am

bahua wrote:The site doesn't render very well in Mozilla, and I noticed that it's labeled HTML 4.01 Transitional, so I ran it through the w3c's url validator. If you(or whoever made the site) fix the errors listed in the following url, your page will be standard, and will probably render fine on about any modern browser.

http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http% ... ewater.org

Also, I haven't heard enough reason from you as to why your group has ruled out downtown KC as a potential location. It seems to me that it'd be a perfect place for something like that.

A fellow Mozilla user, I am indeed happy. Do you use linux as well? If so I have a true friend here.

Post by **bahua** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 12:20 pm

I have been using Mozilla since 1997, when it sucked, and Linux since 1998, when it didn't support cool stuff yet.

I love and prefer both.

The page looks great now.

kckayaker · Post by **kckayaker** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 3:57 pm

bahua wrote:What happened to what you said about building the setup outside the water, so as to keep from disrupting the natural state of it?

Correct, I did say that but plans have changed as we have gone through this plan. We actually hope to be raising some funds soon to allow us to bring in a whitewater park professional to help us.

Post by **mean** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 3:43 pm

I would love this and would use it, but probably not so much if it's all the way out in Lawrence. Still, good luck!

KCK · Post by **KCK** » Thu Dec 25, 2003 3:27 pm

bahua wrote:I have been using Mozilla since 1997, when it sucked, and Linux since 1998, when it didn't support cool stuff yet.

I love and prefer both.

The page looks great now.

Ive used linux since 1999 and I must say that going back to a windows pc is torture. Just imagine all the Windows specific crap I had to learn to get my A+ certification. Anyway Ive used Mozilla since I started using linux. I run an apache based linux webserver, and run several native linux games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Quake III, and Unreal Tournament 2003. Im currently working on getting my Linux+ certification from CompTia, however due to limitations in my budget, I probably wont be able to take the test until next summer. Right now Im typing on my Mandrake 9.1 pc, but I also have a Slackware 8.1 Laptop, and a 200mhz FreeBSD 4.7 pc which will soon take the place of my webserver.

Im glad I know who to come to on these boards about my limitless linux questions......lol

Post by **mean** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 9:52 am

We're all a bunch of dirty linux hippies! Rad.

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