Many shoreline cities and towns are restricting beach access to only their residents ahead of Memorial Day weekend. That includes Milford’s mayor, who has just extended his city’s current executive order banning out of town guests.
“Milford beaches are restricted to Milford residents, so at this point it’s Milford residents only,” said Mayor Ben Blake.
To avoid large crowds, lifeguards will be reassigned as beach rangers, which means you swim at your own risk.
“We’ll have beach rangers out to make sure those emergency orders are followed, which includes social distancing and everything else, and includes the residency component,” said Blake.
He added that the rangers could conduct ID checks in the sand. It’s part of the plan to decrease beach crowding and give room for increased social distancing. Another part of that plan is restricting parking to residents only.
“If you’re a Milford resident, you can come down and park. If you’re not, we are going to enforce the no parking,” said officer Mike Devito, the Milford Police Department’s Public Information Officer
Residents have always had free parking with a Milford beach parking sticker, while the non-residents had to pay. Now that option is gone, so you’ll need a 2019 or 2020 sticker to park near the shore.
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“We did it in response to Fairfield and Westport and all the other towns that have very similar restrictions,” said Blake.
You could leave the beach burned with a parking ticket. Other rules in place mirror the DEEP restrictions limiting gatherings to five people and beach blankets should be fifteen feet apart between groups.
“I have been quarantined for two months in an apartment so for me this is my little escape for social distancing properly,” said Nicole Fletcher. “More people are going to be flocking to this area because it is a coastal town for them they’re trying to be diligent for the residents so it makes sense.”
