FAIRHOPE – The city pier, North Beach, playgrounds and dog park will remain closed until further notice as Fairhope attempts to slow the spread of COVID 19 in the area.
The walking areas south of the pier will remain open as will tennis courts, the municipal golf course, boat ramps and parks without playground, following action by the City Council on March 23.
The council voted unanimously to uphold Mayor Karin Wilson’s action closing the pier and beach area on March 22 and expand the closings to include other facilities.
“At the end of Sunday, there was no question that it was the right decision to do,” Wilson told council members. “Right now, it’s very difficult. You’re not going to make everybody happy. I don’t know how to gauge who wants this or not, but does it really matter? We’re in the business of keeping the citizens safe and when you look at all of the trends, they all start out where we are right now and we already know too that where we are is so, so low and we know it’s wrong. We just don’t have the kits to test people. I think that spike’s going to come soon because as test kits become available, there’s a lot of people that are sick right now that just can’t get tested.”
Council members spent much of the two hours of the work session and council meeting on March 23 debating what sites should be closed and what facilities should remain open.
Councilman Jimmy Conyers said the pier and playgrounds should be closed, but residents with children at home need places where everyone can go outside.
“People do need to get outside and get some fresh air,” Conyers said. “If they’re not walking there, they’ll be walking in the streets.”
Councilman Jay Robinson said parents need a place to play with children, but those sites could be closed if
“If I want to take a child and go ahead and hit baseballs in Volanta, I think I should be able to do that,” Robinson said. “If people are abusing that and there are 20 people up there in an organized activity, then we might need to shut it down because people are not using their common sense as far as what’s the accepted practice right now.”
Council President Jack Burrell said locations where residents can get out and walk should be kept open, including those near the beaches.
“If you allow foot traffic on the sidewalks and you allow foot traffic in front of the shops why would you not allow foot traffic at least down at the bottom of the hill? Certainly maybe not on the pier, but there is a walking trail down on the bottom of the hill to the south of the pier that would seem to open to pedestrians,” Burrell said. “So, there’s all of those options.”
Councilman Robert Brown said closing every site while city officials leave Christmas lights up sends a mixed message to residents.
“We don’t know what’s good or bad yet because the testing is not there like the mayor indicated and, yes, this is a very contagious virus and people are going to die, but I think we can go too far as government on Draconian measures and telling people what they can and can’t do,” Brown said.
Wilson said that while few cases of COVID 19 have been reported in Baldwin County, city officials can’t wait to take precautions.
“This is not a situation where you can say ‘I ask for forgiveness because we didn’t socially distance or we had a number of people over what we should.’ It’s a rapid spreading disease and we are not asking anyone to not eat, drink water and have a roof over their head for a period of time, we’re asking them to simply be mindful that in order for us to get over this and get to the other side, we have to go over and above the call of duty,” Wilson said. “For me, I’d rather look back and say we probably went overboard on that, than to say, ‘if only we’d made these decisions sooner.’”
