Cape Cod towns tweak beach access rules

As summer progresses through the pandemic, Cape towns are trying to find a balance between safely limiting crowds at beaches and making it possible for residents to enjoy access.

Some towns are modifying the capacity limits they imposed at beach parking lots in the spring or restricting certain beaches to residents only.

Mashpee, for instance, has temporarily restricted access to all town beaches to residents after receiving dozens of complaints about nonresidents taking over Johns Pond and parking on surrounding roads.

The Board of Selectmen will hold a public hearing Monday to decide whether to make that restriction permanent.

The town of Falmouth is also taking steps to make it easier for residents to go to the beach. The Select Board voted July 27 to expand the available parking at the Mill Road municipal parking area from 50% to 100% capacity on a trial basis, and Falmouth Town Manager Julian Suso announced Thursday that the parking lot capacity for Bristol, Megansett and Stoney beaches also will be expanded.

Many Falmouth residents, especially those who are older or have compromised immune systems, have reached out to town officials saying they do not get to enjoy the beaches because they fill up quickly or seem unsafe, Select Board Chairwoman Megan English Braga said at the July meeting.

“Crowding is happening now,” English Braga said, “and given where parking is not going to help the crowding, what it would help is maybe allow more residents to be a part of the crowd that is at the beach, and people would have to make personal choices about their comfort level.”

“If we open up the lots, are the people who are going to be using those parking spaces, are they the same people that are biking, walking or getting dropped off, or are we adding additional populations to the beach?” Maggie Clayton, acting beach superintendent, asked.

In Yarmouth the selectmen plan to talk Tuesday about designating certain beach lots just for residents, as many have requested that Grays Beach in Yarmouth Port be residents only.

The federal parking lot at Head of the Meadow Beach in Truro has been restricted to bicyclists and pedestrians since Saturday, Brian Carlstrom, superintendent of the Cape Cod National Seashore, said.

Carlstrom said the change came in collaboration with the town of Truro and the Barnstable County public health officers to help maintain physical distancing.

“Our two beaches are right next to each other, and they have restrictions on their parking, and we don’t,” Carlstrom said of the town- and Seashore-operated lots. “A lot of patrons of the Seashore are overcrowding both beaches, so we’re changing that.”

All in all, Carlstrom said, visitors are conforming with the messages the Seashore put forward with the Cape Cod Reopening Task Force and are complying with physical distancing and wearing masks. He said there is not 100% compliance with the rule of staying 12 feet apart, but people are trying.

“I’ve been pleased with how it’s gone so far,” he said.

Sandwich also has put in some rules to help residents. Ryder Conservation, Snake Pond and Oak Crest Cove areas are open only for residents between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sandwich also has restricted access to all freshwater beaches to residents.

In the town of Barnstable, the Recreation Division has limited the capacity of some beach parking lots. Certain beaches, such as Sandy Neck, have so much space for people to spread out that the parking lot capacity will have no effect, Recreation Director Patti Machado said.

Other beaches in Barnstable, such as William H. Covell Memorial Beach in Centerville, have had capacity issues, Machado said. The beach lot has capacity for 200 vehicles, and the department has blocked off about 70, she said.

“At Covell’s Beach the issue is that we have a lot of people who are dropped off,” she said. “When a drop-off issue starts then we have to monitor.

“It can vary a little bit day to day based on the number of people that come to the beach,” Machado said. “If we’re at capacity we actually physically go out and double-check things.”

If staff members find that more people are walking in, they have to be careful about the number of cars allowed in, she said. They don’t want beachgoers to be unable to maintain social distance.

Not much off-site parking is available near many beaches in Barnstable, Machado said, so if someone does not live near the beach, it is difficult to get there by walking.

“For the most part people understand that we have to follow the rules,” she said. “If everybody just respects each other through this it makes life a lot easier. Nobody wants to restrict anybody from anything.”

Follow Jessica Hill on Twitter: @jess_hillyeah.