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40 C) Indian River County Manatee Protection and Boating Safety Comprehensive Management Plan The January 2000 marina survey investigated the potential for expansion at each marina. Only one, Grand Harbor, had plans to significantly increase the number of wet slips (from 178 to 344). All the other marinas had no plans for expansion or were in the process of repairing damage as a result of recent hurricane and tropical storm damage. It appears that even without increases in wetslip numbers that there is sufficient supply of wetslips to account for increased. demand until 2005. Any increased demand for marina expansion could be partially offset by removing the current wet slip distribution restrictions to allow for the market distribution of wet slips. As indicated, powerboats account for nearly 80 percent of all registered watercraft in Indian River County. The number of powerboats that can be moored at two marinas, the Grand Harbor Marina and the Sea Oaks Yacht Club, is restricted. Currently, Grand Harbor is permitted to lease no more than 72 of their 144 wet slips to powerboats. The Sea Oaks Yacht Club is permitted to lease only 19 (39 per cent) of its 48 slips to powerboats. Removing; current restrictions from these marinas would supply the market with an additional 50-60 wet slips. Public Boat Ramps A Level -of -Service (LOS) approach was used to estimate current and projected demand for public access. A LOS approach uses population projections and applies a boat lane per population served standard. A distinction must be made between boat ramps and boat lanes. A boat lane is the actual physical structure where boats are offloaded from trailers and launched into a body of water. A boat ramp is an access point where boats can be launched into a body of water, and may have one (1) or more lanes associated with it. Boat ramps are used to measure the zone of influence. The standard recommended by the FDEP is a minimum of one (t) boat lane per 10,000 residents. At the present time, Indian River County has approximately one (1) boat lane for every 4,200 residents. It must be noted that the current and projected LOS standards do not account for the use of boat lanes by seasonal residents or visitors from outside the county. Indian River County exceeds the FDEP's recommended minimum LOS standard for boat lanes at the present time. Due to future population growth and the decreasing availability of land fronting the IRL, it is doubtful that the County can maintain its current 1:4,200 ratio. Nevertheless, the County will continue to exceed the FDEP's recommended LOS standard for the foreseeable future. Although the County meets LOS standards, the location of boat ramps throughout the County is disproportionate. This discrepancy is most evident in the southern section of the unincorporated County (south of the City of Vero Beach to the County line). The estimated population for this area of the County is nearly 28,000. However, the only public boat ramp located on the mainland in this section of the County is an unimproved facility at the end of Oslo Road. This boat ramp has a limited amount of unimproved parking space. Also, due to shallow depths only small watercraft can launch from this facility. Furthermore, amenities associated with other boat ramps throughout the County are inadequate or otherwise absent from this boat ramp. As a result, boaters are forced to travel to boat ramps located on the barrier island. Community ilevelopnrent Wpartnient Page 48