Making Cowell Beach the first ADA accessible beach in Santa Cruz
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) – Santa Cruz county has many beaches but a segment of the population doesn’t have access to the beach, but now that changes. The wharf crew installed a new pilot program providing ADA access to Cowell beach and the ocean.
Cowell beach is the first ADA accessible beach in Santa Cruz county but hopefully not for long.
Cowell beach sits right next to the Santa Cruz wharf bringing in many people like Brenda Gutierrez into the area, and now is able to go out onto the beach.
"The ocean is a major part of it and for many years wheelchair users are unable to access the beach," Brenda Gutierrez from Santa Cruz said.
In advance of Memorial day weekend the wharf crew installed a new ADA accessible ramp and MobiMat onto Cowell beach as a pilot project looking to expand it toward the water.
“The Mobi-Mat here is a small piece of that accessibility to CAL beach day on the beach which is an event that will really bring the entire community out to enjoy the beach in a truly accessible way," Tony Elliot director of Parks and Recreation for Santa Cruz said.
This ramp is about 50 to 60 feet and extends from a wooden deck that provides access onto Cowell beach.
At the end of the mat lifeguards have access to beach wheelchairs, something organizations like Veterans Support Surf group uses.
“We use those kind of chairs to roll disable veterans down, that would otherwise impair them from traveling down through the sand," Xavier Bianchi Executive director of Surfing Save Lives said.
Different organizations like Ride A Wave say they hope this will be incorporated at other beaches soon.
“We use the ramp to get down as close as we can which makes it so much easier to push person who is in a wheelchair down into the beach," Julie Pollack from Ride A Wave said.
Many say that this new mat has changed their lives in a positive way.
“I’ve been coming down a lot more since it’s been here, so for me I have noticed this mat has brought people down to the beach more," Foster Anderson from Shared Adventure said.
The mat will remain at Cowell beach through summer as long as there is no storms or high tide events.
