Laguna Beach and San Clemente city-run beaches have been given a green light to open back up to the public, with restrictions, based on plans they submitted to the governor’s office over the weekend.
“They put together an outstanding plan to begin reopening those beaches,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday, May 4, during his daily briefing. “These public open spaces are opening back up with plans in place now to deal with all the concerns around physical distancing and social distancing.”
Other coastal towns – Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Seal Beach, Dana Point – and county and state beaches remain closed for now. Some cities moved forward with legal action against the state and Gov. Gavin Newsom for shutting down the coast over the weekend after tens of thousands showed up during a recent heat wave that hit Southern California.
Laguna Beach, which was already poised to open back up with limited access on May 4, quickly submitted its plan to the governor’s office on Friday, May 1, to open its beaches for active use and in compliance with social distancing mandates on weekdays between 6 and 10 a.m. for active use only.
Its beaches will reopen at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
“We appreciate the governor’s willingness to work with us to provide a responsible, gradual approach to reopening all beaches in Laguna Beach for active recreation,” Laguna Beach Mayor Bob Whalen said. “This will allow people the opportunity to walk, jog, swim and surf and get some fresh air and exercise on a limited basis, but not congregate or gather in large groups.”
The city’s beaches include 5.5 miles that go from Treasure Island to the city’s northern city limits, excluding Emerald Bay.
Laguna Beach lifeguards and Laguna Beach police will be tasked with overseeing compliance.
Each weekday, Laguna’s beaches and ocean water will close at 10 a.m. Those violating the closure orders outside of the permitted timeframe or on weekends can be cited with a misdemeanor, fined up to $1,000, or arrested.
In South Laguna, the beaches are supervised by the county starting at Aliso Beach to Thousand Steps. Fifth District Supervisor Lisa Bartlett said county officials are creating a plan that’s consistent for the 42 miles of coastline, but they remain closed for now.
“Visitors don’t always know if they are on county, city or state beaches. Individual cities can always suggest something more restrictive,” she said about wanting to submit a general plan to the state. “With temperatures next week expected to be (even higher), we need to have a responsible balance with regard to active recreation where people can walk, run or jog on the beaches.”
San Clemente city officials received a letter from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services telling them the city’s active-use plan adopted by the San Clemente City Council is consistent with the governor’s executive order.
“Therefore, beaches operated by the city of San Clemente are permitted to reopen under this beach management plan,” the May 4 letter said. “Vigilance will be necessary to support implementation and prevent unsafe conditions.”
“I think it makes it clear that if you have a plan, you can open your beach,” said Chad Nelson, CEO of Surfrider Foundation. “It further clarifies, it’s not about politics, it’s about a plan. Having a plan, during a global pandemic, is a very responsible thing to do. We can’t have our beaches overrun, we need to have a plan to keep people safe.”
“The rest of Orange County still has work to do,” he said.
Beach towns Dana Point and Huntington Beach decided to sue the state last week, with Newport Beach officials joining the lawsuit efforts on Saturday. A hearing is set for May 11 if the parties can not come up with a compromise before then.
For Seal Beach, which was among the first beaches to shut down six weeks ago, officials will be meeting with the City Council on Tuesday to come up with a game plan.
“If the City Council approves amendments to the plan – and with the permission from the governor – then we’ll go ahead and get the beaches open as quickly as possible,” Seal Beach Councilman Joe Kalmick said.
City officials in Seal Beach plan on meeting Tuesday, where the police chief will present a plan for soft opening, he said.
“You don’t just say ‘OK, the beaches are now open,” he said. “It’s not something you can just throw the switch on.”
The city would have to pull the lifeguard towers back on the sand, get lifeguards staffed back up, he said, adding hopefully city beaches could be open by early next week.
“Some residents have gotten more vocal as every day passes,” he said. “The arguments range from anywhere from we need more access to recreation, that the sidewalks are getting more congested and the green areas that are open and the parks are congested and they don’t really see a reason why we shouldn’t open the beaches, at least for active use.”
With all of the protesting and politics that have surrounded beach access, Kalmick said he thinks “we’re taking the eye off the issue.”
“And that there’s a pandemic out there killing people,” he said. “I see people focusing less on that and it’s our right to go to the beach.”
Kalmick believes if the crowd had not shown up in the thousands in Newport and Huntington Beach during the heat wave a week ago, “we probably would have been quietly open sooner than we are now.”
Nelson was geared up to surf Monday morning with Laguna Beach set to reopen after more than six weeks shut down, but was waiting until the city officially opens.
He hasn’t traveled to still open beach towns, like south in San Diego or north to Ventura, but was eager to paddle out when his hometown announced they’d be open a few hours each weekday morning.
“I think getting outside and getting exercise is critical to people’s well being,” he said. “For a lot of people, that means walking the beach, paddling, surfing. We should be able to do that in a way that’s responsible. The stay at home order, we’re to stay in our communities and not travel out of them to reduce community spread.”
Nelsen is urging beachgoers to write into Orange County supervisors, who are meeting early Tuesday, to urge them to make plans to open for recreational use of beaches.
“It seems like these plans are designed to be protective of public health and honor the stay-at-home requirement,” he said. “That makes perfect sense, there are already examples of this in San Diego, Ventura, and Santa Cruz that are working. It seems to be a very reasonable request.
“I’ve seen all the plans, they aren’t overly complicated,” he said. “This is not heavy lifting for Orange County or the cities. They do have to have both enforcement and compliance by the public.”
He said he’s not interested in the politics of why cities are fighting against Newsom’s request for cities to submit recreational-use plans.
“I don’t want to speculate about why the governor did it or why the cities are fighting,” he said. “It shouldn’t be political. It should be about responsible planning for our coast and a plan that’s allowed that is socially responsible.”
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San Clemente and Laguna Beach given go-ahead to open up beaches for exercise - OCRegister
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