State cuts spots at Nantasket
Parking at 50% capacity as Hull made a red zone
The parking capacity at Hull’s Nantasket Beach will be slashed further to address concerns of overcrowding amid the coronavirus pandemic as the town faces an elevated risk for the virus.
The state Department of Conservation and Recreation announced that it’s reducing the total parking capacity at Nantasket Beach State Reservation by 50%, which goes into effect today.
The move to ramp back parking comes as the state Department of Public Health added Hull to the list of higher-risk red-zone communities that had an average of more than eight daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents during the past two weeks.
Nantasket Beach has been crowded with many people not wearing masks, Hull Select Board member Jennifer Constable said Thursday.
“That’s what we know is a catalyst for the spread of COVID-19,” she said.
“It doesn’t make sense to not mitigate that for everyone’s safety,” Constable added about the parking restrictions at the beach.
In April, DCR implemented parking area restrictions at many coastal beach reservation parking lots across the state, including at Nantasket.
Before Friday, 22% of DCR agency-managed parking spaces have been restricted at Nantasket. At the request of the town, DCR will implement a 50% parking space restriction at agency-managed parking areas until further notice.
DCR has about 1,200 parking spots at Nantasket Beach. Starting Friday, there will be about 575 available spots.
“Hull is experiencing an elevated level of COVID cases, in part because the State is hosting thousands of people in Town everyday with little or no ability to enforce appropriate distancing and other sanitary measures,” Hull Select Board member Donna Pursel posted on Facebook.
“The DCR reservation and the Town beach are super-spreader sites,” she added, noting that the reduced parking capacity “should shrink crowd size and allow for greater ease in social distancing.”
The Hull Board of Health posted about moving to the top-level redzone.
“We need to be diligent in reducing the number of positive cases in Hull,” the board wrote.
Cape beaches have also taken steps to reduce crowding this summer amid the pandemic. In Truro, the Head of the Meadow beach parking lot is closed to vehicles until late August.
In Mashpee, only town residents can access the community’s beaches as a result of overcrowding at John’s Pond and other town beaches.
DCR in the advisory about parking restrictions at Nantasket Beach reminds people at state properties to practice social distancing of at least 6 feet; wear a mask when not swimming; and consider leaving crowded areas.