Newest Public Water Access
You’ve got one more place to launch your paddle craft in Anne Arundel County.
On October 7, paddlers and county reps cut the ribbon on a car-top boat launch for kayaks, SUPs and canoes at Discovery Village in Shady Side. Discovery Village is the county’s ninth new small boat launch since 2012, for a total of 16. The county maintains only one boat ramp for trailering, in the north at Fort Smallwood Park.
There’s cause and effect at work here, with pressure coming from Anne Arundel County’s Public Water Access Committee to make more of the county’s 533 miles of shoreline accessible to the people who live and play here. Many of the new launch sites are in parks long owned by the county.
“The current county leadership is moving fast on making up for generations of neglect,” says Lisa Arrasmith, an avid paddler and member of the water access committee. “Fort Smallwood, the first public county [trailer] boat ramp, took 25 years. County Executive Steve Schuh is moving a lot faster on the next one.”