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Protecting Longmont’s open spaces and parks and ensuring the safety of those who visit them has become a team effort in the time of coronavirus.
In a presentation to City Council last week, David Bell, Longmont’s parks and natural resources director, highlighted how multiple departments have come together for enforcement and education as more and more people flock to the outdoor spaces while the pandemic has limited their activities.
“We recognize how important keeping these spaces open to the public is for their mental and physical health so we’re really doing everything we can to make sure we provide a space that is as safe as possible while protecting our natural resources so they’re not impacted for next season or next generations,” Bell told council Tuesday.
The team approach has involved not only the Parks, Open Space and Trails and Natural Resources departments, but also employees from Transportation, Solid Waste, and Public Safety. From extra patrols at popular destinations such as McIntosh Lake and Union Reservoir to making signs outlining capacity limits and rules to working weekends to haul away the trash, multiple departments have stepped up as more and more people are stepping out to outdoor areas, Bell told council.
And an effort is underway to allow community members to be a part of the team, too.
The city is starting to put together a training program to allow volunteers in parks, Bell said.
Those volunteers might be called upon to collect data so “council has a better idea of just how many people we’re seeing, how big groups are, what parking is like, so they can balance what they’re getting from staff, the community and neighbors with some data that we’re collecting,” he said. “How quickly we get that and how statistically valid it will be over the next couple weeks or months will take a little looking at.”
Councilwoman Joan Peck thanked Bell for the effort to involve volunteers.
“Whenever we have something that we need help with, involving the community brings us together, whether its a flood, whether its a pandemic ... and they want to help,” she said.
Peck also said parks and open spaces are incredibly valuable to the entire community, especially now.
“I do want the public to know that these are public parks. Just because you live by one does not mean it’s specifically for you,” she said. “The entire city has access to all our public parks and I am happy that we have all these parks during this ridiculous, surreal time.”
Bell echoed her thoughts, calling it a matter of social equity, with access being key for “people that don’t have backyards, that don’t have green space, that don’t have anything other than our parks … I really think these are important spaces for our whole community.”
Visitors to McIntosh Lake, Dickens Farm Nature Area, Button Rock Preserve and Union Reservoir have all been on the rise in recent months; the latter more so now that the city has upped the maximum capacity at the swim beach to 75 people and opened the dog swim area.
“I think you’ve all seen kind of what the impact is: It’s hot, kids weren’t in school, how do we get out and do things,” Bell told council, adding that natural resource agencies across the Front Range and the country are facing similar issues as they try to manage parks and natural areas during the pandemic.
Some of the primary safety concerns that have emerged include swimming at McIntosh Lake, where there are no lifeguards on duty, where there is no water rescue and where the water quality is not monitored as it is at Union Reservoir, he said.
Parking, too, is emerging as an issue, as are people not wearing masks and gathering in large groups, Bell said.
Three park rangers are stationed at Union Reservoir, and rangers also are trying to be out at Dickens Farm and McIntosh Lake, too, he said. Public Safety also has increased police patrols in those areas and at Button Rock. “I can’t tell you what a great partnership that’s been,” he said.
Park rangers, police and volunteers are running up against tense residents released from “stay at home” orders who bristle at rules and regulations, Bell said during council’s July 7 meeting.
City Manager Harold Dominguez during Tuesday’s meeting stressed that police are a key resource in enforcement of social distancing mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions, adding that he is advising all city employees to take an educational rather than enforcement approach if they see violations because the city has seen the “bad side” of such interactions.
He also emphasized that community reports of violations are being heard.
He said he is constantly getting text messages and photos of violations, but often the offenders are gone when police arrive. “What I would like the community to understand is we’re seeing and we’re hearing it, but in many cases by the time we can get someone there whatever they were doing, they’re not doing it anymore.”
The work to protect open spaces and people also comes on the heels of a reported rise in vandalism. Last month, Bell told council that vandals had recently caused as much as $67,000 in damage at the city’s outdoor recreation areas and that was before three restrooms were trashed in early July. That compares to $44,000 in vandalism costs last year.
Bell last month told council the city’s park rangers are stretched thin trying to oversee more than 42 parks and 100 miles of trails even as police officers have helped patrol Button Rock Preserve west of Lyons, as well as Union Reservoir east of Longmont.
