Broward County beaches to remain closed for now

Broward County’s beaches will remain closed as beaches open almost everywhere else.

The county issued an order Thursday extending the closure to an undetermined date, to the dismay of Fort Lauderdale officials who want to reopen right now.

In contrast, Palm Beach County decided Friday to reopen beaches on May 18, and beaches around the state have begun to reopen with warnings that people should keep their distance from one another.

Fort Lauderdale officials said they are frustrated that Broward County has not outlined a plan for how and when to open.

“We would have hoped the county would have had a sophisticated plan how to address the expectations our community has to start bringing some level of functionality to our communities,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said Friday. “Instead, the county simply said ‘the beaches are closed.’”

County Administrator Bertha Henry said she has had no consensus from city mayors about when beaches should open, and so she isn’t ready to project a date.

“Clearly while one city may be ready the majority of cities were not ready to open right away,” Henry said Friday. “It would be my intent to discuss with those coastal communities on Monday when

“Clearly while one city may be ready, the majority of cities were not ready to open right away.”

Bertha Henry, county administrator

they would be ready to open up and what safety precautions they would put in. It doesn’t make one sense for one beach to open and the others not. You’d have mayhem.

Henry said she wants “consensus and not confusion.”

Trantalis said things can’t stay the way they are. “The county administration is falling behind,” he said. “People are already taking it upon themselves to go back to work — you can see that by the traffic on the roads. I interpret that as people feeling the frustration.”

Trantalis wrote to Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday asking that the city be allowed to open immediately, saying, “It is time to let us move ahead with reopening our economy.”

Like Trantalis, Pompano Beach Mayor Rex Hardin said he had hoped the beach would have opened by now.

He’s ready for it to be “open for walking, swimming and running” — but doesn’t want “stopping on the beach.”

“Not sit on the sand, not a blanket, not a cooler, no gatherings — strictly for exercise,” he said. “It’s time we allow our residents to do that.

“That is not a complete reopening of the beach. And I would be strict on the enforcement. If it got out of hand, I’d be willing to close the beach again.”

In Palm Beach County, beaches will reopen with some caveats: All public, private and municipal beaches in the county can open from sunrise to sundown and should limit groups to no more than 10 people while following social-distancing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Beachgoers will be limited to “activities consistent with social distancing and exercise,” meaning walking, swimming, biking, running, fishing and surfing.

That approach might find support in Broward County. Commissioner Michael Udine sent the administration an email Friday urging Broward to make a plan.

“I request that we commence limited safe openings right away,” he wrote, suggesting the county call an emergency meting to take it to a vote.