Gloucester To Close Beach Parking To Non-Residents This Weekend
Thinking about hitting the beach this weekend? Better not head to Gloucester, unless you can prove you live there.
Citing numerous resident complaints of excessive traffic in town, the beach parking lots will only be open to residents of Gloucester.
“The last thing we want to do is close our parking lots to visitors, but our City was had an influx of traffic this past weekend,” Gloucester Mayor Romeo Theken said.
“We need to reduce the amount of traffic, which is a challenge we face every year but has certainly been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. More people are understandably looking to get outside after staying home for months to reduce risk of exposure to the virus, but that has meant traffic is worse and it isn’t a sustainable situation for our residents.”
All parking lots to Gloucester public beaches will be closed to non-residents this weekend (July 18th & 19th), including the lots at Stage Fort Park, Good Harbor Beach and Wingaersheek Beach.
Residents will be able to gain entry with a 2020 beach sticker, 2019 beach sticker, or if they are still waiting to receive their 2020 sticker, a license and registration with a Gloucester address.
City officials have yet to decide if they will extend the beach parking ban into future weekends.
