Follow Mass Beach Reopening Guidelines in COVID-19

Massachusetts residents were fortunate not to have state beaches closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, public access was significantly limited in the spring through loss of parking and amenity access in order to achieve physical distancing and encourage residents to stay home. 

We participated in the public process for just and equitable economic reopening, speaking to beach access as well as retail and grocery guidance relative to single-use plastics. 

On May 18, 2020, Governor Charlie Baker announced that effective May 25, site managers at beaches could again allow parking and could continue to limit capacity and other amenities as needed.

Unfortunately, widespread confusion immediately ensued when guidelines requiring public noticing were not implemented systemically.

A section of the Phase 1 guidance released on 5/18 was further maintained by phase 2 guidance later released on June 9, stipulating that:

• All beach managers and visitors should adopt the specific guidelines outlined herein. Property specific guidelines should be posted at entrance points to beach areas and on relevant social media/websites. Guidelines provided herein apply to all inland and coastal beaches unless otherwise specified

Public noticing about parking access in particular was a significant problem at Nahant Beach, where signage was not erected, no public notice went out through media speaking to specific parking rules and allowances, and different rules appeared online on different sites. The conflicting information about parking and beach access on the DCR website, social channels, local beach sites and the State's  COVID-19 information page grew hostility from the public, with angry posts appearing on the Nahant Beach Facebook page asking for more clear information to enable beach access.

The Chapter rallied to fix the issue and began closely monitoring the situation, and our regional manager connected with state officials at the DCR to raise concerns and call for better and more consistent public noticing.

On June 30, following a June 29 phone meeting with a top official at DCR, online content was updated across DCR sites to consistently reflect the current rules in compliance with the guidelines!

This victory helped ease tensions in an already tense time by identifying problems with beach access noticing and getting straight to the solution.