The City of Chestermere is setting occupancy limits on its beaches following overcrowding concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
As travel outside the province continues to be discouraged, many Albertans have taken the time to explore vacation spots closer to home.
As a result, the City of Chestermere said its waterfronts have been experiencing a high volume of visitors.
Worried the large number of guests could contribute to a spike in new cases, over the last few weeks, the city’s mayor has been calling on the province to step in and help.
“We know that people want to enjoy the summer, but safety must come first,” Marshall Chalmers said in a news release Tuesday.
“Without provincial guidance, we were restricted in our ability to enforce provincial distancing as these are public parks and beaches.”
Now, with guidance from the government, the city is setting occupancy limits on all three of its beaches.
On Saturday morning, the city received a requested guidance document from the province, enabling the municipality and beach operators to enforce new safety regulations at all three of its waterfront areas.
The maximum limit at Anniversary Park will be 615 people, and 115 on the beach; 205 people will be allowed at Cove Beach, with a maximum of 39 people permitted to be on the beach area at one time; and the maximum occupancy limit at Sunset Park will be 483.
Chalmers said once the new occupancy guidelines were received, the motion was passed by council on the same day.
“City council is committed to strong leadership,” Chalmers said. “As soon as we received news that the province had issued the guidance document, we made plans for an urgent council meeting to implement our local restrictions under the provincial direction.
“By Saturday evening, we had issued our local orders and our team is now working to implement the new safety measures as quickly as possible.”
No time limit is being implemented on how long visitors can stay at the locations, however, the city will be controlling and monitoring capacity limits with fencing, designated entrances and exits and on-site staff.
Additional safety measures are also being put into place, including clear markings for lineups to bathrooms and showers, increased signage, more hand sanitizing stations and limiting the number of people entering the washroom at one time.
The new measures are expected to be fully in place by weekend.
Chalmers noted that if the overcrowding continues with these new restrictions, further limits may be implemented on the city’s beaches.
He added that should a beach or park area be full on arrival, residents are asked to choose a different location. Visitors are also asked to stay home if sick and respect physical distancing measures.
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