Huntington Beach reopens beaches
The city of Huntington Beach announced Tuesday that it would be opening its beaches and beach bike pathways for active recreational use, effective immediately.
State officials approved plans for beaches reopening in Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and Dana Point on Tuesday. The news came a day after Laguna Beach and San Clemente each reopened their city’s beaches.
Gov. Gavin Newsom had ordered Orange County beaches closed on Thursday.
“We’re delighted to be reopening our beaches for active recreation, which will allow our community to once again enjoy the recreational and mental health benefits from spending time at the Pacific Ocean,” Huntington Beach Mayor Lyn Semeta said in a release. “The new active recreation rules that we’re instituting will allow for continued beach access in a manner that emphasizes the need to practice safe social distancing.”
Tuesday’s decision was to reopen Huntington Beach beaches, including Huntington State Beach and Bolsa Chica State Beach but excluding beaches in Huntington Harbour, every day from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. for active recreation. That includes ocean activities as well as walking, running, hiking and bicycle riding. Beaches and the ocean will be closed to passive games, loitering, sunbathing and any gathering of people outside of those within their immediate household.
The Huntington Beach Pier and all city beach parking lots remain closed, as they have been for weeks during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Active use will not be a problem for Jim, 73, of Santa Ana, who was biking near the pier Tuesday. Jim, who declined to give his last name, said he was irritated when the beach path had been shut down, which interrupted his normal rides.
“It cuts my ride in half,” he said of the bike path previously being closed. “I try to get out for a two-hour ride every other day, and so I use this path every other day now, trying to build up my immune system and everything.”
The 69 new cases from the Orange County Public Health Care Agency marks the fewest reported in a single day since April 28.
He was pleasantly surprised that the “hard close” of Orange County’s beaches by Newsom was relaxed in short order, but he also felt that there were other ways to curb behavior rather than take away activities in the first place.
“I think if they’re so worried about the distance, they would go and talk to the people that are getting too close to each other, and say, ‘Hey, separate,’” he added. “If they don’t separate, then give them a ticket.”
George Roudanez, 78, of Corona del Mar was out for a walk with his wife, Linda. The couple has enjoyed some of the relaxed restrictions of the stay-at-home orders of late, playing tennis at Racquet Club Irvine just this week.
He believes that people should have options to go outside and be active, as long as they remain vigilant about their social distancing.
“I think the big problem when you close too many things, there’s the law of unintended consequences,” Roudanez said. “When you close too many things, you’re making people congregate in those areas where they can congregate, and that’s not a good idea. The more things that you have open, the better it is, as long as people remain vigilant and they observe their [spacing] and they stay apart.”
Huntington Beach spokesman Eric McCoy said that the beaches could be further opened in the coming days and weeks, depending on what Newsom does and how he opens up the economy. Newsom has said that Phase 2 of reopening the state could begin Friday with some retail, manufacturing and logistics businesses.
“As he makes those changes, we’ll be following up as well,” McCoy said.
Newsom had ordered Orange County beaches closed on Thursday. That night, the Huntington Beach City Council voted 5-2 to file a lawsuit against the state of California.
In a court hearing Friday, an Orange County Superior Court Judge heard arguments by Huntington Beach, Dana Point, and some individual beach city businesses requesting to block the closures of beaches by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Huntington Beach City Atty. Michael Gates said the decision to reopen the beaches Tuesday was made at the city level, as was the decision to close them last week. Gates said the lawsuit the city filed against the state, which is set for a hearing on Monday, has not been closed.
The City Council scheduled a special closed meeting for Wednesday at 5 p.m. to discuss the lawsuit against the state.
“It’s our belief that the governor’s verbal directive [to close the beaches] on April 30 was not constitutional, that it didn’t have legally binding effect, and that it violated the city’s rights to control its own beaches, its own police department and its own resources,” Gates said. “None of that has really changed. The causes of action are still there; they’re still alive.”
Laguna Beach city beaches opened Tuesday to active sand and water use and will remain open on weekdays only, from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. The city initially approved the limited reopening of city beaches prior to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandated closures of Orange County beaches.
After Newsom made the order Thursday to close the beaches, Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach) said she reached out to the mayors of local beach cities. She also worked Friday with the governor’s office, the National Resources Secretary and the California Office of Emergency Services, she said.
“I was really pleased that we were able to work with the governor’s office and able to put that [lawsuit] to one side and facilitate a good resolution,” Petrie-Norris said. “I’m really grateful for the way the City Council came to the table, the city manager and city staff came to the table and all of our state agencies did as well. We didn’t let the lawsuit get in the way of solving this problem … Particularly in the context of the threat of litigation, I think it is a great example of collaboration and problem-solving of our local and state governments.”
Rep. Harley Rouda (D-Laguna Beach) said in a statement that he hopes all cities will follow the common-sense and multi-phase blueprints put forward by Laguna Beach, San Clemente, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and Dana Point.
“Orange County is best served when local, county, and state governments coordinate to protect residents’ mental and physical health,” Rouda said.
Eric Sundquist, 45, came down from Redondo Beach to surf Tuesday. He said he had yet to face opposition to surfing in Huntington Beach, although he was aware of surfers being ushered out of the water over the weekend.
“I just kind of travel the coastline to surf, but I love Huntington,” Sundquist said. “It’s miles of great surf. It’s Surf City USA, so I come here regardless of the situation. Luckily, they’ve been the only people that have treated it with some common sense, to be quite honest with you.”
Plans submitted by Dana Point, Huntington Beach and Seal Beach to allow the public to immediately access to the coastline were approved by Sacramento.
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