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Intern outlines tiered beach‑access plan, town eyes mats and emergency crossovers
Summary
An intern presented a tiered plan for Surf City's 39 public beach accesses, prioritizing upgrades (amenities, ADA access, and emergency vehicle crossovers), proposing beach mats for accessibility and recommending additional southern emergency access points.
Charlie Medlin, a Parks & Recreation summer intern, presented a tiered beach‑access framework the town would use to prioritize improvements and to match grant opportunities in future budgets. "Surf City occupies and uses 39 public beach accesses as of right now," Charlie told the council, and explained the staff method for ranking access points using a 0.25‑mile radius for parking and residential service.
The plan establishes three tiers: tier 1 covers the most heavily used and amenitized accesses (Charlie noted 18, 19 and 5 as examples), tier 2 includes larger accesses with permanent bathrooms (example: access 15), and tier 3 covers lower‑volume residential accesses largely used by adjacent residents. Staff emphasized safety: direct vehicle access for EMS, fire and ocean rescue currently exists at accesses 1, 5, 6, 13 and 19 on the northern side of Surf City. Charlie also described beach mats — roll‑out surfaces that aid pedestrian movement and can build dunes when swept — and said the fire department had shown interest in mats and in evaluating replacement of some wooden crossovers with vehicle crossovers for emergency access.
Why it matters: the tiered approach is intended to help the town prioritize grant applications and capital spending so the highest‑use accesses receive necessary ADA and life‑safety upgrades first. Staff identified potential southern emergency access candidates (24, 27 and 36) for future study.
Council reaction and next steps: council members commended the intern’s work and asked staff to fold the recommendations into the beach‑nourishment schedule and future capital projects. Staff said the plan will be refined as beach‑nourishment and dune conditions change and that community input and consultant review will be part of next steps.
Unresolved items: staff noted some beach mats and crossover decisions will require design work, dune‑condition review and coordination with state regulators; cost details and a definitive implementation timeline were not provided at the work session.
