ADA-compliant dock installed at Vasona Lake in Los Gatos

Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos got a new ADA-compliant boat ramp installed this summer, ensuring that residents of all abilities can enjoy the lake.

Florida-based AccuDock installed the dock, which consists of a kayak loading zone and a marina boat loading zone. The docks are wider to make it easier to navigate with a wheelchair and have edge guards that serve as bumpers to prevent anything from rolling over the edge of the dock.

The ADA-compliant dock is the first of its kind at Vasona, and Tamara Clark of the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department said it’s part of the county’s efforts to expand ADA accessibility across its water parks.

“It’s just a really fabulous thing to have happen to see the expansion of recreation to other communities,” Clark said. “It’s been fabulous; one of the best things I’ve ever seen in my career here at parks is the expansion of boating to an entirely new community.”

Santa Clara County hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new dock on July 29. Los Gatos Saratoga Recreation operates the dock and helps paddlers in and out of their kayaks, Clark said.

Vasona’s dock was almost four years in the making. The NorCal Spinal Cord Injury Foundation approached the county about hosting a Day on the Lake for disabled residents in 2019 and from there, county supervisors raised funds to get the dock installed.

“It really took off from there because there was so much enthusiasm to see people that normally wouldn’t get out on the water and enjoy this with their family to be able to do so,” Clark said.

AccuDock has built accessible docks across the country, including three in the Bay Area in Berkeley, Antioch and Oakland, Rebecca Gramm, the company’s director of marketing, said.

“Our docks are easy to navigate. And they’ve provided a safe and stable place to not only get in and out of a kayak, but also boat access,” Gramm said. “I mean, this dock is unique because it has two separate sections, not only for those individuals who want to kayak or canoe, but there’s also paddle boats there, or regular boat access docks as well.”