Flagler beaches to open on trial basis

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Flagler joins St. Johns, Duval in conditional opens.

Another county on Florida’s northeast coast is opening its beaches, albeit with conditions.

On Tuesday, Flagler County joined Duval and St. Johns in allowing limited use of the shoreline.

The whole county shoreline will be open from 7 to 10 a.m., with 6 to 8 p.m. access in areas of the shoreline outside of the city of Flagler Beach itself.

An emergency order will reopen beaches on a limited basis to allow “physical and mental health activities.” The order will also reopen some parks with trails. The duration of the opening will depend on public compliance, the county’s website informs.

The order came despite one official expecting the “number of cases of COVID-19 will continue to increase.”

“As with the reopening of some of our parks with trails, we will gauge the public’s compliance with the CDC guidance for social distancing,” said Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord. “As our community, state, and country go through the strategic reopening process, the number of cases of COVID-19 will continue to increase.”

“Our residents have been very compliant with the trails at our parks, and that makes us very confident that this limited beach opening will be successful,” said County Administrator Jerry Cameron. “The degree to which we can expand the hours is dependent on how the public responds to this initial re-opening.”

“It was inevitable that we open up the Flagler beaches to our community but only with a public health focus and reflective of a joint decision by City, County, Health Department and Law Enforcement leaders,” said Florida Department of Health-Flagler Administrator Bob Snyder.

“In my opinion,” Snyder added, “it is ok to change strategies and response to this unprecedented public health crisis, as long as health and safety of our residents are priority.”

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. He writes for the New York Post and National Review also, with previous work in the American Conservative and Washington Times and a 15+ year run as a columnist in Folio Weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


One comment

  • Quinn Throne

    April 21, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    Absolutely ridiculous! Unfair! Most people are at work at those hours. Close all the sidewalks and bridge walkovers and the fishing under the bridge during those hours as well. That’s fair. For surfers not to be allowed to walk across the sand to surf is unacceptable! There is way more damage being done by people walking over the bridge on a 3’ wide sidewalk. Explain the logic behind 3 hours of access to the beach. It’s gonna create crowding on weekends! Stupid jackasses apparently making the decision in County Commissioners office

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