Town Council member Joe DePasquale had the quote of the night during the June meeting of the Warren Town Council — which came amidst an extended conversation on how to increase the number of kayak slips throughout town to meet increasing demand among those wanting to get out for a paddle.

“For a town surrounded by water, we certainly have some difficulties getting in it,” DePasquale said.

The conversation was prompted by Wheaton Street resident Victor Westgate, who had submitted a letter to the council back in April regarding his frustrations that there are not enough kayak slips to accommodate the number of people who would like to rent one — and that some of those who have slips apparently aren’t even using them.

“We live in the historic district and walk on Water Street almost every day. We have observed almost half the kayak slips in place now are vacant, although someone is renting them,” Westgate said at the meeting. “We are hoping the town will consider building more kayak slips on Water Street, on the Town Beach, as well as other town locations, such as the town ramp near the control plant, Kickemuit Park, and other acceptable sites available for town use.”

Harbormaster Ed Cabral reported when asked by Council member Keri Cronin that there are currently 18 slips for kayaks available at the Town Beach, but that the waiting list for slips includes 49 people. About half of those, he said, were from residents renting apartments at the Tourister building.

Although Cabral said that the Town was concocting a plan to construct 18 additional slips at the Town Beach, there were concerns about how that would impact parking during the busy summer months.

DePasquale suggested creating the additional racks on the north side of the beach, along the property border with Blount Boats, where people would be limited to access them only if they biked or walked to the slips, and would not receive beach parking stickers for those slips.

Other sites mentioned for possible slip space included on Tourister’s property, but concerns about the fast current in the water nearby made that dicey. Cabral said there was a good access point at the end of Kelly Street, but that land is owned privately by the Warren German American Club, and would require some sort of partnership to make that happen.

Westgate, in his letter, also floated the possibility that a lottery should be put in place to enable more people to access slips, rather than simply have the slips be renewed each year with a small fee. That lottery suggest didn’t gain any verbal support, however.

“Mr. Westgate’s point is that the demand far exceeds the capacity. And we can work on the capacity and hopefully create more but there will still be an excessive demand beyond the capacity,” Council member Brandt Heckert said. “I’m not sure what the best solution is, but I think he’s making a good point.”

Ultimately, the council approved a motion to refer the issue to DPW, the Parks Department, and the Warren Harbor Management Commission to form a more concrete plan about where to build additional slips, how many should be built, and who should be able to access them.

“There are lots of potential public access sites that we could add racks to, and I think we should look at all of them,” said Harbor Management Commission Chairman Woody Kemp. “There’s lots of opportunities to build racks so we’ll continue to look into that.”