THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
May 11, 2020, 6:57PM
Updated 1 hour ago
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Sonoma County residents may soon be driving to their local parks to play tennis, launch a kayak or ride dirt bikes under a revised order expected to offer significantly greater outdoor recreational opportunities as early as this week.
County supervisors will weigh in Tuesday on the next phase of public access before anticipated action by county Health Officer Sundari Mase that would expand on changes made April 28, when she authorized residents to return to municipal and county parks they could reach on foot or bicycle.
The new proposal would open parking lots so that residents could drive to nearby parks and allow for restrooms to be opened, facilitating longer visits.
Individuals and household groups also would be allowed to engage in “low risk” activities like bocce ball, pickle ball, disc golf, volleyball, paddleboarding, canoeing and other outdoor fun that does not require close contact with a large group of people. It also would mean private tennis clubs could permit family groups to play.
Though not specified on its Tuesday agenda, the Board of Supervisors also will discuss the possibility of allowing bike- and walk-in access to Sonoma Coast parks and beaches for the first time in more than seven weeks, said Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, who represents the area.
Under one scenario, entry would be permitted only before 11 a.m. each day or after 5 p.m.
The midday closure, implemented by Santa Cruz County, is meant to limit the draw for outside visitors while providing some opportunity for coastal residents to get out into public open space, a privilege so far denied them since parks were closed countywide on March 24.
“We do recognize that there are a lot of people who do not live in the coastal zone who really want to access the coast and the beaches,” said Hopkins, a Forestville resident. “I count myself among those people. But this is going to be a phased process.”
Park access, particularly where the coast is concerned, has emerged as a major public issue over the two months that Sonoma County and most of the nation has been sheltering in place to try to reduce the transmission of the novel coronavirus.
People have been encouraged to get outdoors for fresh air and exercise as an antidote to the cooped-up, isolated existence of pandemic life.
But the crush of crowds at public parks and beaches during the first few days of Bay Area stay-at-home orders was so profound that Sonoma County closed down all of its parks days later, and the state closed all state park parking lots.
Though Mase recently authorized some limited use of inland parks, parking lots remained closed, prompting concerns about equity for those in urban areas without easy access to nearby open space, as well as for the disabled, who needed to prearrange visits only to specified parks.
The coast remains completely closed, as well, because of ongoing difficulties keeping visitors from outside the region away. There are also concerns about exposing limited first-responders on the coast to coronavirus by allowing too many people at public beaches, Hopkins said.
Regional Parks Director Bert Whitaker said the phased reopening of parks is predicated on residents’ demonstrated willingness to abide by social distancing requirements.
