FENWICK ISLAND – As Ocean City prepares to open its beach and Boardwalk on Saturday, it appears elected leaders in coastal Delaware towns are not yet ready to do the same.
Last Friday, the Association of Coastal Towns (ACT) – composed of the seven coastal communities that include Lewes, Henlopen Acres, Rehoboth, Dewey, Bethany, South Bethany and Fenwick Island – sent a letter to Delaware Gov. John Carney outlining its approach to reopening beaches and boardwalks as the three phases of the state’s economic recovery plan are implemented.
“Just like every other economic sector of the state, this issue is complex and involves the balancing of competing objectives and capabilities,” the letter reads. “The ACT Mayors have deliberated on these issues and are ready to share our thinking and guidance with you.”
In an interview this week, Fenwick Mayor Gene Langan, chair of the association, said last week’s correspondence follows the governor’s request for input from the coastal community.
“It’s really a roadmap for reopening,” he said. “What we didn’t want to do was pick specific dates for when things would occur.”
In March, Carney closed all Delaware beaches through at least May 15, but that date could change as the COVID-19 crisis evolves. Through the governor’s executive order, the public is prohibited from accessing the beach except to exercise or walk their dogs where dogs are permitted. Some municipalities, however, have chosen to enact tighter restrictions.
Last week, the seven ACT mayors called for beaches to reopen to some extent starting with the governor’s first phase of the economic recovery plan.
“Considering the most current data on new cases, particularly in Sussex County, opening on or before Memorial Day weekend is not feasible,” the letter reads. “It appears unlikely at this point that Phase 1 will begin until after Memorial weekend.”
In the first phase, the less congested beach towns of Lewes, Henlopen Acres, Dewey, South Bethany and Fenwick would open beaches to walking only. Since Lewes and Henlopen Acres currently permit this activity, Dewey, South Bethany and Fenwick would join them.
In the second phase, all five of those towns would expand activities to include the broader use of exercising on the beach, small yoga classes and recreation such as playing catch, kite flying and kicking the football or soccer ball.
In the third and final phase, the beach will fully open to all normal activities, including swimming and sunbathing. Rehoboth and Bethany will then reopen their beaches for the first time for normal use.
“Rehoboth and Bethany, with boardwalks and boardwalk-front businesses, hotels and other rentals, and with ample public parking, anticipate a demand for beach use that will quickly lead to unenforceable crowding and risk of additional virus exposure,” the letter reads. “Simply stated, they will be overwhelmed once their beaches open. It is their intention to keep their beach and boardwalks closed until Delaware Recovery Plan Phase 3 goes into effect.”
Langan said ACT’s phased approach to reopening the beaches and boardwalks was based on federal guidelines followed by the governor. The mayors, however, acknowledged the desires of local businesses to return to beach-based tourism, and Langan said he expects some pushback from local business owners.
“This was strictly the mayors’ decision,” he said. “But I continue to keep in touch with the business community and what they are doing at this time.”
In their letter to the governor, the mayors argued that plans for beach use in all towns were not a one-size-fits-all approach. They said dialogue on the reopening of beaches would continue as more COVID-19 health data is forthcoming.
The association’s letter to Carney makes it clear that enforcement of the phased reopening would be the biggest challenge for coastal communities.
“That’s the hardest problem,” Langan said this week. “It’s hard to stop somebody from walking on the beach. I was sitting on my front porch last week and people were walking up to the beach then.”
In the second phase, for example, the letter state that available staff will try to enforce proper social distancing. And in Dewey, the town acknowledged its inability to control some of the anticipated beach activity.
“Dewey anticipates little ability to hold people back when ‘beach-use light’ at Phase 1 goes into effect and anticipates their users will charge forward to the Phase 3 level of use (swimming and sunbathing) with little ability to control it,” the letter reads.
The association wrote last week that the ability to control the number of people at the beach was largely dependent on the ban of short-term rentals and non-essential travel.
“Once either or both of those are lifted, the potential crowding is likely to be overwhelming and rules in place on social distancing will be very difficult for our towns to control,” the letter reads. “State-supplemented staffing will be required to enforce social distancing on the beach in our view.”
In drafting a plan for reopening the beaches, the mayors noted they had included the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) Division of Parks and Recreation, as well as the town of Ocean City, in their discussions.
In an interview Tuesday, however, Langan said he was surprised to hear of Ocean City’s decision to open its beach and Boardwalk starting Saturday. He explained the town’s move could impact Delaware beaches, particularly those in neighboring Fenwick Island.
“I think this will impact us …,” he said. “I think we will have some spillover onto our beaches.”
Despite the uncertainties surrounding the reopening of Delaware’s beaches, Carney on Tuesday announced a series of interim steps allowing small businesses to resume limited operations starting May 8.
Small business retailers – including clothing and shoe stores, department stores, sporting goods stores and book and music stores, to name a few – will be allowed to do business using curbside pickup as long as social distancing can be maintained. Hair care services can also be offered to workers at essential businesses.
“I understand how hard this has been for Delawareans across our state,” Carney said. “We’ve tried to find ways to ease the pain without compromising public health. But even these limited steps allowing businesses to offer additional services will require strict compliance with safety standards, especially social distancing. We cannot afford to go backwards and see new cases and hospitalizations spike. Getting used to a new normal won’t be easy, but this is the first step to being able to reopen our economy.”
