The City of Laguna Beach in Orange County, California, reached a deal with Governor Gavin Newsom (D) on Monday that will allow it to reopen city beaches in a four-phase process starting Tuesday.
Unlike Los Angeles County, Orange County had kept its beaches open through the coronavirus crisis. Large numbers of people came to the beach on the last weekend of April due to sudden warmer weather.
Newsom ordered a “hard close” of Orange County beaches last week after news photographs circulated that appeared to show crowds Newport Beach and Huntington Beach. Local authorities disputed the reports, saying that aerial photographs showed that most people on the beaches were observing “social distancing.” Newport Beach authorities decided to keep the beaches open, with more law enforcement, but Newsom shut them down.
That, in turn, led to intense protests on Friday and Saturday, as local residents expressed outrage at Newsom.
According to a press release by the City of Laguna Beach, Newsom had approved its new four-phase plan:
Governor Newsom’s team … reviewed the City’s plan and fully support the City’s phased approach to responsibly and gradually reopen City beaches.
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Phase one of the City’s beach reopening plan includes limited beach hours on weekdays only for active use; phase two includes limited beach hours on weekdays and weekends for active use; phase three includes regular hours on weekdays and weekends for active use; and phase four includes the return to regular hours on weekdays and weekends for active and passive use of the beach.
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This is an adaptive management plan and each phase will be enacted on a trial basis. The City will move to the next phase only if it believes the activities can be managed to comply with current directives regarding physical distancing and large gatherings. If it is determined that a phase is creating an environment whereby physical distancing cannot be maintained, the City will consider further limiting beach access or closing the beach until compliance can be attained.
Beaches within Laguna Beach that are administered by Orange County itself will remain closed.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, is available for pre-order. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.