The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
No plans to extend resident-only beach ban
MADISON — The town is not planning to extend a one-week ban restricting nonresidents from using its three municipal beaches, according to Scot Erskine, director of the Beach & Recreation Department.
But the ban, which was instituted in the wake of Tropical Storm Isaias and expires Monday, marks the latest in a series of beach access restrictions rolled out during the COVID-19 pandemic that prioritize resident access, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut issued a statement Friday critical of such policies.
First Selectwoman Peggy Lyons said the recent ban was meant to maintain safe capacity limits during the COVID-19 pandemic while also ensuring residents could access town beaches for relief after Tropical Storm Isaias caused widespread power outages in Madison.
The measures have included barring nonresidents from beach parking lots on weekends, a call Lyons said at the time wasn’t easy to make.
But she made that call, and others, in an effort to limit crowds, allow for distancing and discourage people from traveling around the state when they risked spreading the virus, Lyons said.
“Everything under this public health emergency is unusual,” she said. “Believe me, the last thing I ever want to do is have people come to our community and not feel welcome.”
But while distancing is important, ACLU of Connecticut Director David McGuire said, there are ways to achieve it without restricting access based on residency.
“Physical distancing is a worthwhile public health goal, but these
ordinances attempting to delineate access to public beaches based on town residency or non-residency are poor public policy and are not grounded in science,” he said.
McGuire also pointed out that there is a history of segregation and racism associated with beach access restrictions in Connecticut.
“We are also mindful of the long history of Connecticut shoreline towns using resident-only beach access policies to enforce backdoor racial segregation, and it is important that these recent policies do not become the latest footholds for … racial injustice,” he said.
“I understand the sensitivity around this,” Lyons said, adding that she would hate for Madison to be seen as unwelcoming due to its beach policies, which she has viewed through the lens of a public health crisis.
And the town is in an especially tough spot because it is home to Hammonasset Beach State Park, Lyons said.
With the park enforcing capacity limits this summer, beachgoers have headed to Madison’s town beaches in large numbers after being turned away from Hammonasset, according to Lyons.
In July, for example, Madison saw an uptick in out-oftown vehicles that tried to enter town beach lots, and a subsequent “influx of people parking on side streets and walking into our facilities,” per a July 15 update from Lyons.
The numbers made social distancing difficult, she said.
Lyons subsequently extended an order restricting parking spots to residents on weekends and holidays through Sept. 9. The same order instructed “the local traffic authority to limit onstreet parking to Town residents only on designated accessory roads,” according to a July 22 announcement.
But Lyons emphasized that unlike some other municipalities, the town did not prevent nonresidents from walking onto the beach
until the aftermath of Tropical Storm Isaias.
More than 80 percent of the town lost power during the storm, and many did not get it back for days, Lyons noted.
“We were dealing with double emergencies last week,” she said, referring to the storm and the pandemic.
Wary that residents might be without air-conditioning, and with a heat wave on the way, Lyons wanted to make sure folks could use the town beach to cool off during the emergency, she said.
While issues over beach access during the pandemic have sparked legal concerns, Lyons said that the town counsel reviewed the policy.
Madison’s attorney, Floyd Dugas, did not return a request for comment.
When asked for comment on Madison’s policy, Elizabeth Benton, a spokeswoman for state Attorney General William Tong, referenced the ruling for the Connecticut Supreme Court case Leydon v. Town of Greenwich.
The case “made it clear ... that ‘public access to the area [Greenwich Point] can only be restricted …when the exclusion is necessary to serve a compelling state interest and the exclusion is narrowly drawn to achieve that interest,’” Benton said.
It also “[affirmed] the right of non-residents to use town parks and beaches throughout the state,” a 2001 ACLU statement said.
Whether towns can establish beach access policies
based on residency is a local legal matter, according to Benton.
“Connecticut beaches are a treasure to be shared by all,” she said. “We strongly support efforts by state and local governments to protect public health during this unprecedented emergency, but those protections must not be used as an opportunity to deprive the public of their constitutional rights.”
State Rep. Noreen Kokoruda, R-Madison, said the pandemic has put communities in a difficult position when it comes to beach access, as it is “impossible to practice social distancing without limiting beachgoers.”
“Although state law requires our beaches to be open to everyone these are very unusual times and safety has to be our priority,” Kokoruda said.
Madison is fortunate to have Hammonasset, which is open to everyone, Kokoruda continued. “I think Madison residents and taxpayers have to be given priority with town beaches in these exceptional times,” she said.
A beachgoer at the Surf Club beach Friday, who declined to give her name, felt the restriction was helpful to residents who paid taxes to support Madison’s beaches, she said. “One of the reasons we moved here,” she said, was “to have beach access.”
She knew of other residents who had been turned away from the town beaches due to overcrowding, she said.