White Rock has closed its iconic pier in an effort to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
City councillor Christopher Trevelyan brought forward the motion in a special meeting Monday afternoon.
He says closing the parking lots to the pier just wasn’t good enough to enforce social distancing.
“It’s too many people on the beach,” he said. “The city has to step up and do what’s in the best interest of public safety.”
City council passed the motion unanimously.
Trevelyan hopes it sends a message to the public to stay home.
“We’re hearing it from all levels of government,” he said. “From the Prime Minister on down, so we just kinda wanna do our part and make sure all the people in our city and the neighboring communities are safe, or as safe as possible.”
White Rock Mayor Darryl Walker says they made the decision after seeing how many people flocked to the pier over the weekend.
“We think for this short period of time we’re going to try to protect everybody and that means that you have to give up a few things,” he said. “That means at this point of time people are going to have to give up the pier itself.”
The closure comes just one day after the city announced they were closing parking around the pier.
White Rock city council will meet once a week to discuss how the closure is going, and anything else they can do to help flatten the curve.
Walker says the promenade along Marine Drive remains open, but the parking lot is still closed.