Universal Beach Access Project
Background: Early in 2016, members of our community contacted Island Beach Access (IBA) and made impassioned pleas to create universal accessibility to our public beaches. There is currently no truly universally accessible public beach access anywhere on Whidbey Island for people who are mobility-challenged. Indeed, they can only view the beach from the parking lot.
As an integral part of this inclusive and welcoming Whidbey Island community, IBA pledged to act. We created a Universally Accessibility Campaign for our public beaches. Although this has been a complex, lengthy, and costly process, IBA has received generous, broad-based community support. We have developed a pilot project to modify an existing local public beach to create a truly universally accessible public beach. Accessibility to the tidelands will involve creating ADA compliant van parking spaces and a 6-foot wide pathway to and from the beach. This pathway will be covered with seasonally placed ADA-approved permeable and removable AccessMats, which will allow universal accessibility to this public beach.
We have made fantastic progress in partnership with the Port of South Whidbey and Island County and are nearing the completion of our pilot beach project located at Clinton Beach Park next to the Washington State Clinton Ferry Dock. An article was published in the South Whidbey Record on April 29, 2017 describing the project and the support that it is generating.
While we have been more than pleased with the support that we have been receiving, we are still needing to raise another $4500.00 in order to finish acquiring the necessary matting and to cover other final expenses of this project.
All the funds generated are being handled by our fiscal sponsor, Whidbey Island Land & Shore Trust, a 501 c(3) not-for-profit.
For more information about Island Beach Access, visit www.islandbeachaccess.org.
Any funds collected beyond the project target will be applied to IBA's routine operating costs unless otherwise specified.