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05/08/2020 12:00 AMStarting Saturday, May 9 the town will begin limiting weekend access to its beaches to Madison residents, and is restricting the number of parking spaces at the Surf Club in preparation for an influx of traffic due to warmer weather.
People will be required to show either a drivers license, car registration, or tax bill proving residency. Beach passes, which went on sale May 1, will also be accepted.
First Selectman Peggy Lyons announced the new restrictions on May 6. She told The Source that observing the large number of people using beaches all along the shoreline was concerning enough for the town to take the proactive step.
“We’re seeing summer-like crowds without having our summer staff in place and our summer programs in place,” Lyons said.
Residents, even those without beach passes, will not have to pay to access the beaches, according to Lyons, though the town will begin requiring beach passes for everyone by June 20.
Weekdays will continue to remain unstaffed by the town, with beaches open to everyone, Lyons said.
Since the pandemic shutdown, the town has been expediting a plan to get its online beach pass purchasing system up as soon as possible, after initially targeting a late-summer day. Lyons said she anticipated that system would be up before June 20.
Right now, residents have to mail in a form to the town with their payment, and will receive their beach sticker by mail.
As far as overall policy, Lyons said the plan was to “mirror” what nearby Hammonasset State Beach has done to limit overcrowding. Hammonasset closed several parking areas last month as well as its boardwalk, and has been forced to temporarily restrict visitors due to that limited parking filling up.
Between now and June 20, there will be “incremental expansion” of staffing at the beaches on weekends, Lyons said, starting with just a couple of gate guards this weekend but potentially expanding as needed leading up to Memorial Day, when the town will “definitely” deploy additional staff.
Beaches will not be fully staffed with lifeguards or gate guards in the immediate future, according to Lyons, when the town will go to a five-day a week model, cut from an initially proposed seven days in this year’s budget.
Normally, the town has begun fully staffing beaches once school gets out, according to Lyons.
“We basically just have a couple of weekends that we weren’t planning to have anybody down there and now we do,” she said.
The cost of this extra staffing, Lyons said, would likely be “nothing,” as the town has extra money in this year’s budget due to other staff reductions during the shutdown.
There are no initial plans to have Beach & Recreation staff actively monitoring the beachfronts themselves to ensure visitors aren’t gathering in large groups or violating social distancing guidelines, Lyons said.
“I don’t think in general we’ve seen too much of that, to be honest. By limiting the parking in the front lot that has helped keep down group gatherings...we’re discouraging people gathering by doing all these different things,” Lyons said.
Police Chief Jack Drumm has put together some extra patrols near the beaches, according to Lyons, but Lyons said police would not be actively stationed in the beach parking lots.
The Surf Club only has 100 available parking spaces now, though Lyons said she hoped they might open up more incrementally as time goes on, particularly after May 20 when some of Connecticut’s emergency restrictions are scheduled to be lifted.