DeLand, FL - There's some confusion at Volusia County beaches among would-be beachgoers after three access ramps were opened for those who have a current disability placard or sticker. During today's Volusia County Council meeting, Council members Billie Wheeler and Ed Kelley were both at the beach on Sunday to check out the situation and found a number of beachgoers sunbathing rather than taking part in physical activities.
Volusia County Beach Safety Director Ray Manchester said the confusion of the beachgoers led to a lot of, what he termed, 'education sessions.' "We issued over 2,500 warnings just this week alone, with Sunday being kind of an exceptional day for us, with over 1,200 warnings. We're still only at six citations issued. The compliance is very good but the message is not very popular."
Manchester went on to say that people are practicing what he called, 'lack of compliance by deception.' "You know, there's people maybe not engaging in some of these activities. They see us coming up, they will get up and start moving around or walking and then after we drive by, they go back to sunbathing or sitting or whatever." He said they've had their share of challenges but it's not for lack of trying or hard work.
Many people come to the beach to relax and they are not interested in taking part in the six approved activities. Manchester said, "They want to sit and read a book, they want to not engage in one of the six physical activities, which a lot of people do. It almost seems unnatural to tell somebody, 'Hey, you can't sunbathe. You can't sit in your chair. You can't read a book. You can't sit under your umbrella and pitch a tent.'"
Council members would like to see more messaging about the rules at the beach. County Manager George Recktenwald reminded Council that all of this is something the County has never dealt with before. "This is totally new territory for us,” he said. ”(Beach Safety officers) are learning as they go. The first job is safety and we work down the tree from there.”
County Chair Ed Kelley said he'd like the reopening of the beaches to go a little faster and get past the headaches of partially open beaches. “The sooner we can relax, to a degree, enforcing the social distancing, the less of these kinds of issues we’re going to have,” Kelley said. “I would certainly support easing up to allow people to go to the beach, to e joy the outdoors. If you want to take your chair to enjoy the beach, let it be. I hope that can be done sooner than later.”
The Council now waits for Governor Ron DeSantis to make the next move. DeSantis a said today that he will make an announcement tomorrow (April 29) on whether the "Safer at Home" order will be lifted or extended.
