Road blocks put up at Santa Cruz parking lots to limit beach crowding

PLEASURE POINT, Calif. (KION) Santa Cruz County has road blocks up in parking lots near popular Santa Cruz beaches to limit crowding and maintain physical distancing.

The blocks are set up at every other parking space at The Hook near Cliff Beach in Pleasure Point.

KION found many people were still out Tuesday afternoon at this popular surfing and walking destination.

The county said people should stay at home, except for essential purposes or recreational activities.

“The beach is not for hanging out at this time. We’re in a very severe and serious health crisis and we need people to respect the shelter in place order,” Santa Cruz County Spokesperson Jason Hoppin said.

The beaches were still open then. But the county decided Tuesday evening to close the beaches and parks throughout Santa Cruz County beginning 11:59 p.m. on April 8 through 11:59 p.m. on April 15, which includes the Easter weekend.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office said that in the past few weeks there were a lot of crowds coming to the beaches, something that came as a concern for residents KION spoke with Friday.

“Especially on the weekends, it’s like you come down here and everybody thinks it’s like spring break,” said Rick Ward, a Pleasure Point resident.

The Sheriff's Office formed a team to do outreach and enforcement of the shelter-in-place order.

“Deputies are firstly going to those individuals that are not complying and telling them, ‘hey, you guys need to disperse,’ but in some instances people don’t want to and that’s where that leads to a citation,” Sheriff’s Office PIO Ashley Keehn said.

There were rumors that out-of-towners were the ones violating the shelter in place order, but the county found otherwise.

“What we found is a lot of people out violating the shelter in place order were actually locals so what we want to do is tell people, it’s a shelter in place order–it’s a legal order to stay at home unless you’re out for essential purposes and that’s the key word," Hoppin said. He added people should think, "do you need to be doing this?”

Keehn said there were 56 citations over the weekend.

The Sheriff's Office said the situation has improved as of Tuesday and less people are out than before.

Violating the shelter in place order can lead to a misdemeanor citation, $1,000 fine or imprisonment.