WESTPORT — A public hearing will be held, probably at the next Board of Selectmen meeting, on a plan to require beach stickers for parking at the town landing across from the Horseneck Beach Life Saving Station.

The use of stickers was proposed by the Landing Commission, which controls that landing property, as a way to get a handle on “out of control” parking there by people using Gooseberry Island.

“Serious crowding occurs there in the summer,” said Jeff Bull, vice chairman of the Landing Commission, and this year the problems started early when the state closed its parking out on Gooseberry Island itself. People park across from the Lifesaving Station and hike out the causeway, effectively preventing Westport residents from using the site.

By 9 a.m., especially in summer, that area is full and it stays full all day long, Mr. Bull said.

The proposal is to require beach stickers this summer due to the COVID-19 situation through September 15 as a “trial” to see if it should be continued or changed for future years.,

That landing, which Mr. Bull said the Landing Commission thinks is called Horseneck Point Landing (or perhaps West Beach Landing), is being mentioned on Facebook and Twitter as an available free parking space to access Gooseberry and area beaches, and has been overwhelmed, Mr. Bull said. 

Parking there (along the sandy edge of the road) has also become a problem for the neighborhood.

“It is out of control," selectman Steven Ouellette said, adding that he supports the change.

Sean Leach of the Beach Committee said he is concerned that responsibility for enforcing the parking limit would be “overwhelming” for town police who already have their hands full dealing with the parking and camper situation on nearby East Beach Road.

He also said that beach stickers are in especially high demand this year and are becoming an increased burden for Town Hall staff.

“There are 40 cars there on a hot day,” Mr. Leach said of the Horseneck Point Landing area.

But board Chairwoman Shana Shufelt said she discussed the matter with Police Chief Keith Pelletier and he does not see stickers being an enforcement problem — the parking situation as it is now is already keeping police busy.

Selectman Brian Valcourt said that, rather than require residents who don’t use the beach parking lots to pay $30 for a beach sticker, he would rather see creation of a generic town resident sticker that would provide access to town landings and other non-beach locations.

Demand for beach passes is indeed up this spring, Town Clerk Bernadette Oliver said, and her staff is falling behind.

She said they average 60 applications a day and have received as many as 90 some days, in addition to time spent fielding phone call questions.

She said there is presently a backlog of around 150 applications and asked for people to be patient — we are doing the best we can.

Selectmen were prepared to vote on the proposal but were told by Town Administrator Tim King that they should first hold a public hearing.

The board voted 4-1 to do that — Mr. Valcourt cast the lone no vote.

The Horseneck Point Life Saving station was established at this location in 1894 and was equipped with a 30-foot lifeboat.

The Life-Saving Station was restored and reopened as a visitor center in 2009 by the Westport Fishermen’s Association which later merged with the Coalition for Buzzards Bay.

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