City Council members unanimously agreed at Tuesday night’s council meeting that reopening the controversial dune as a workout facility is off the table.
“We here in the city of Manhattan Beach are saying that we refuse to let Los Angeles utilize this small piece of land here in our city as their workout facility,” Mayor Mitch Ward said to a packed audience. “It is overrunning us and we don’t have the monies to do that.”
Council directed staff to develop landscaping alternatives that would discourage cardiovascular workouts but still allow community access to the dune. Among alternatives discussed were the restriction of the dune to children and the installation of switchbacks and greenery that would create zigzagging trails.
“I don’t want to narrow it down to three, four, five people,” Ward said in reference to staff recommendations to limit the number of exercisers on the dune at a time. “I want to see two or three people walking up at a time enjoying a beautiful nature preserve.”
The dune was never intended as a workout facility. Twelve years ago, however, reports of its high intensity, low impact workouts spread around the globe with the advent of the Internet. Traffic to the dune has been increasing ever since and with it came noise and litter, as well as confrontations between dune-users and neighbors. By July, the number of people trekking up and down the dune had reached 9,000 per month.
“We must secure the welfare of our immediate residents,” Councilmember Portia Cohen said Tuesday night. “We have to feel comfortable in our homes and surroundings.”
The city closed the dune indefinitely in August to address growing neighborhood complaints. Under guidance from council, the Parks and Recreation and Parking and Public Improvements commissions explored options to permanently close the dune or to reopen it with limited hours, a paid reservation system, parking meters, a parking permit program, or some combination of the above.
Council members and residents alike felt uncomfortable with the lack of detail provided with those options.
“There’s not enough solid information for any of you to make a decision tonight,” resident Brent Enright said.
Many residents expressed concerns over the heavy erosion endured by the dune and doubted the city’s ability to enforce regulations, especially since one park ranger currently supervises all of the parks in Manhattan Beach.
“If there is not full-time, costly supervision at that park, you cannot police it effectively,” resident Heidi Snively said.
Proponents of keeping the dune open as a recreational facility argued it offers a unique workout that can’t be found anywhere else. Some warned that keeping the dune permanently closed would set a dangerous precedent to closing city parks due to neighborhood complaints. Many pleaded with council to explore other options incrementally before opting for permanent closure.
“It doesn’t seem like we’ve kicked over every stone and tried every option that’s available,” resident Mickey Fine said. “Until we do, I think we have an obligation to do so and I urge you to please do whatever it takes to keep the sand dune open.”
The dune will remain closed while the city explores other options and conducts further studies, such as geological surveys and cost-benefit analyses.
Council directed staff to look into methods of restoring erosion damages and planting foliage in such a way as to limit the usable area of the dune. They hope that such measures will automatically restrict the number of users on the dune.
“I can’t look at a park or recreation facility and close it in good faith without trying anything else first, even if that means making it a child-only park,” Mayor Pro Tem Richard Montgomery said. ER
The dune at Sand Dune Park has been closed for 5 months, and will be closed at least 3 more. At a recent city council meeting, dozens of residents spoke of how they enjoy walking the dune for exercise. Yet some city councilmembers seem determined to ban “workouts / exercise” on the dune. This is being proposed under the guise of preventing the dune from being a “regional workout facility,” but in fact they would seek to ban adults from walking up the dune for any reason.
I’ve lived on the plateau atop the sand dune for 8 years. Since then, my standard morning exercise has been jogging down the hill, running along the waterline, jogging back up Manhattan Beach Blvd., then running along the Green Belt until arriving at the bottom of the dune, where I would finish my morning by walking up the dune– I’ve never once run, it’s just too dang hard. Other times, I walk to the dune and climb it several times, where I happily chat with other Sand Dune Park visitors about the city, their health and the wonderful views. There have been problems at Sand Dune Park due to over usage and a few bad apples. The solution is to address the peak usage issues and to focus on the actions of the few bad actors; the solution isn’t to ban exercise in a public park and prevent thousands of residents from enjoying the park they enjoyed for decades.
I bike on the strand, run on the Green Belt, stroll along the beach and climb the dune. None of those activities make those places a “workout facility.” What are parks for, if not exercise? I can walk on any street or sidewalk in the city. I can walk on the beach. I can walk on the strand, the Green Belt and in any public park. Are we ready to ban walking in Sand Dune Park?
The relevant word is “thousands.” And that is just residents. There are multiples of thousands who used the dune who came to us from across the county, the country, and even the world. For that you can thank the LA Times, other media, and the internet.
Jacob Rome will suffer no harm if he eliminates the dune from his daily regimen. On the other hand, the neighborhood will benefit greatly from his not doing so, along with the thousands he mentions. Controlling adult dune traffic and use is more easily said than done, and is a rather costly. The gentleman who walked the dune many times a week with his backpack on was, though walking, certainly exercising and training.
The dune should be reopened as a kids only facility. As noted before, adults can take their pleasures elsewhere.