I'll look for the word doc later this afternoon - got a new computer and didn't transfer some of the old files.

It is a real easy process you just need patients! Here a are a few things to keep in mind:

1.) Get all the stakeholders together, that is all of those in your area that use or would benefit from using the beach for cat launching. Express to them the we need to do something NOW or we're going to lose this privilege. It is better to keep it now than let it close and come back open it later!

2.) Be empathetic to the person you're talking to from the government. Understand what they have to deal with, and in some case they have a boss to answer to. Ask them to articulate what they will need from you to make their job easy to accomplish this and be prepared to do the leg work. Again there is safety in numbers. Before leaving that meeting make an appointment for the next meeting while there!

3.) Talk to some of the local business that would benefit from you're being there and have them write something up. Sales = taxes and that ='s revenue. Or what would be the impact on their business if you weren't there!!!

4.) Talk to the life guards, police, harbor patrol to get their take on it and what their concerns are. This will likely come up and it is better to have this information to counter the objection.

5.) Like Pete said the more you can paint the picture that cat sailing is a good thing the better it is. In your case it may be easier as they already letting cats launch. As a note, I had taken pictures of Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara on one of the Chamber of Commerce days. To my fortune the person I dealt with was a visual learner and liked the idea of boats on the beach with the sails up and people all around.

6.) Maybe even offer to pay a launch fee if it is a yearly /daily thing. Find out what the local ramps are charging and use that as a baseline. Also run some calculations as to what they can expect a year in revenue. What I had proposed was 10 beach side seasonal storage spaces @ $230 = $2,300 per year. And average of 1 daily pass a weekend @ $10.00 = $520 per year. This was the minimum they could expect which was more than they thought!!!

Overall this is nothing, but then again it wasn't going to impact their budget.

7.) Finally, see if there are any other agencies that have a stake in this. State, County, Township, even the Federal Gov. Out here we have the California Coastal Commission, and they are something else with some strict laws regarding cars on beaches etc..... this can be a challenge and should be known up front. Remember the saying; we're from the government and we're hear to help!" This hold true with the local governments; that is, if they received funds from the state or the feds most certainly they will have some strings attached.

Good Luck