Carlsbad CA—The City of Carlsbad is ramping up public safety and education efforts for Labor Day weekend with the goal of reducing the spread of COVID-19 and otherwise maintaining a safe environment during the symbolic end to the summer season.

Plans include

• Closing beach parking lot at Ocean Street (except disabled parking)
• Distributing free masks on the sea wall and on the beach
• Extra bike, boat and ATV patrols at the beach and lagoon
• Visits to businesses to make sure they know about the new rules and check occupancies
• Extra cleaning, pressure washing
• Coordination with hotels and short term vacation rental owners to ensure visitors are aware of local health orders

Below are additional details from the city’s Labor Day plan.

Law enforcement

The Police Department has developed an incident action plan that includes the following components:

• Additional bicycle and ATV patrols will be assigned along the coast and the City of Carlsbad’s police and fire rescue boat will be deployed on the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Saturday through Monday. One staff person from the Police Department and one city lifeguard from the Fire Department will be onboard.
• Additional direction will be given for community service officers and rangers to support public safety and public education efforts along the beaches.
• Enhanced health order enforcement will focus on education with the option of written warning citations and strict enforcement of the Carlsbad Municipal Code.
• Officers will be deployed to specifically address DUI violations citywide.
• Contingency plans are in place to activate additional staff resources if needed.

Face covering distribution

• Similar to Memorial Day weekend and the July 4^th holiday, city staff and CERT volunteers will set up tents along the upper sea wall and at North Beach to raise awareness of the importance of face coverings and provide free disposable non-medical grade masks.
• The City Manager and members of the city’s leadership team have also volunteered to help staff the city tent, both to provide additional resources and demonstrate the city’s commitment to slowing the spread of COVID-19.
• Police officers and firefighter/paramedics will continue to keep a supply of these masks on hand to distribute as needed to the public.

Closure of beach parking

• The city will close its Ocean Street parking lot to general parking from Friday morning through Tuesday morning. Disabled parking, one-hour restaurant parking and official public safety vehicle parking will remain available in the lot.
• The city will create prominent signs and social media messages to alert the public to the availability of parking for people with disabilities.
• The city will actively enforce local parking laws to help protect neighborhood quality of life and access for local businesses.

Beach and water safety

The city’s lifeguards will continue to be on duty at the north beach area from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. through the Labor Day weekend with the following adjustments:

• Staffing has been increased to ensure adequate resources in light of expected crowds (including a high percentage of visitors who may be less aware of beach safety precautions).
• Lifeguards will emphasize education and preventive actions both for water safety and COVID-19 spread.
• 1 personal watercraft will patrol the north beach area to back-up shore-based operations.
• Regular announcements will be made from the lifeguard vehicles reminding the public of precautions to protect their health and safety.
• Cones will be placed on the sand to maintain space to safely patrol the beach in the lifeguard vehicles.
• Lifeguard staffing will be adjusted following Labor Day based on needs.

Business support

• City staff will continue to communicate with businesses affected by the health orders to help clarify the rules and answer questions.
• Fire prevention staff will be deployed to monitor occupancy levels and advise businesses of health and safety rules.
• Signs will continue to be provided to businesses to help raise awareness of health precautions among their patrons.
• A pre-Labor Day email notice will be coordinated with Visit Carlsbad, the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce and the Carlsbad Village Association to emphasize the importance of health and safety precautions and the latest health orders.
• A pre-Labor Day email will be distributed to hotels and short term vacation rentals with a reminder to inform visitors of the latest health orders and offering to replenish signs and other materials to reinforce health order precautions.

Sanitation

• The city will utilize its contract with Urban Corps as needed to provide additional pressure washing along the sea wall and in the Village.
• Additional pick up of trash and recycling containers has been arranged along the Ocean Street beach accesses and the sea wall, as well as in parks and the Village.
• Crews will perform additional cleaning and restocking at the beach restrooms along the sea wall (most of these are restrooms managed for State Parks by the city).

Communication and messaging

• The city’s new mask up campaign targeting those ages 20 to 29 will launch Labor Day weekend with digital ads, social media and other communication channels.
• The city will continue with its Stay Safe to Stay Open campaign urging the community to support local businesses by following all health precautions to slow the spread of COVID-19.
• Temporary banners and signs, including electronic message boards, will be placed at highly visible locations to create added emphasis on importance of health precautions.
• Increased health and safety messaging will be featured in all communication channels leading up to and through Labor Day weekend.