Beginning last weekend, Grinnell’s Beach is effectively fenced off from the public.
The action appears to have been made necessary by the swarms of people recently on …
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Beginning last weekend, Grinnell’s Beach is effectively fenced off from the public.
The action appears to have been made necessary by the swarms of people recently on the beach, fishing in the construction area, and climbing on construction equipment.
“We’re trying to keep the construction site safe,” said Department of Public Works Director Bill Anderson, “and to keep anybody from getting hurt. Unfortunately, it will remain fenced off through the summer.”
"It's definitely intended to close the beach for public safety reasons, and to ensure that people don't go into the construction area," said Town Administrator Jan Reitsma. "The only way we can secure that goal is to close the beach altogether."
The situation had become all but untenable in recent weeks and especially over Memorial Day weekend. The bridge abutment is being rehabilitated at a cost of about $1.8 million.
“The bridge abutment had quite a number of people on it, and along the beach, who were parking along Main Road,” he said. “On weekends it’s packed. You had kids playing around in the work area, climbing on construction equipment and among exposed rebar where workers were pouring concrete.”
The fencing, much of it four-foot-high wooden snow fencing, is expected to extend all the way along the Jersey barriers that border Main Road, and from behind the bathroom area to Main Road.
There will be “No Trespassing” signs and “Construction Site” signs posted on the fencing and elsewhere, Mr. Anderson said.
Police will have a detail there over the weekends, he said.
Police logs for Memorial Day weekend indicate just how unmanageable the swarms of beach visitors had become.
Police were required to make a pre-dawn check at the beach on Friday morning, and again shortly after midnight Saturday night.
On Monday, Memorial Day, a beach check was made at 3:10 a.m., and by shortly after 9 a.m. police reported “multiple parties” and large numbers of “people fishing in the construction zone.”
The people were cleared off the beach by about 9:45 a.m. One of the people was diabetic and required rescue, while another other person reportedly “strained his back” and was unable to walk off.
Two parking tickets were issued to people parking along Main Road.
By noon, the beach had become crowded again, and at 12:48 p.m. police reported the “beach has been cleared again.”
That didn’t last; the crowds returned, leading the police about 8:17 p.m., Monday, to report again that the “beach has been cleared.”