Drive-on beach access discussed at state parks meeting

On Feb. 13, I attended a meeting at the Indian River Marina to hear the Delaware State Parks Division proposals for drive-on beach access at Cape Henlopen State Park. They had some very interesting information and a few ideas how to overcome the overcrowding situation at the park.

In 2011, there were 11,380 surf-fishing permits issued. By 2014, that number had grown to 14,779 paid permits plus 1,100 free permits issued to volunteer firemen and -women. In 2014, the highest daily count of vehicles on the beach was 987, up from the highest daily count of 216 in 2001. Since there is not enough room for all those vehicles to park along the water, drivers end up stacking up several rows back. This makes the actively engaged in fishing law impossible to enforce.

Last Labor Day weekend, someone started a party by inviting folks via the internet to come out to Cape Point. By the time everyone arrived there were so many vehicles and people drinking it was impossible for the three rangers assigned to Cape Henlopen to maintain control.

Right now, Cape Henlopen and Fenwick Island are the areas experiencing an overcrowding situation. Fenwick has not reached the critical stage, but with an ever-increasing number of people with vehicles capable of driving on the beach, it won’t be long before they too see more drive-on activity than the beach can handle.

So how do we handle the overcrowding problem at Cape Henlopen? One idea is to limit the number of vehicles allowed on the beach at any one time. Cape Henlopen has about three miles of beach, and if each vehicle is allowed 30 feet of room, that would be about 500 as the maximum, which is about half of what we currently have on a busy weekend.

The next question is how do we regulate the number allowed on the beach? The simple answer is have park personnel count each one that drives on and stop access once the magic number is reached. That sounds like a good idea until you think about the problems of getting enough personnel to man four crossings and then what to do with the vehicles that are waiting for someone to leave so they can get on. There is no place for people to wait, and most will be reluctant to leave the park. The three park rangers and a few summer workers are stretched thin as it is taking care of all the numerous other things like drunks in the parking lot, bike accidents on the trails, directing traffic at the parking areas and taking care of injured swimmers.

The idea of issuing reservations for those who want to drive on the beach during weekends between Memorial Day and Labor Day may be the best solution. Currently, the parks accept reservations for camping spaces, and it would not be difficult to use the same system for beach access. As to cost for the reservations, there is some thought of making it free or charging a nominal fee to cover the expense of issuing the reservation. The total number of reservations would be limited to 500 for any given weekend day, and even if the maximum number is not taken, drivers would not be allowed on the beach between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. without a reservation.

All vehicles would be required to park single file along the beach. No stacking would be allowed.

Those who want to fish between the hours of 4 p.m. and 10 a.m. would not need a reservation. Since this is the most productive time to catch something in the summer, being able to drive on and fish would not be impaired.

I did ask if things such as swimming, kayaking, volleyball and other non-fishing activities would be allowed. The answer was yes so long as at least one person from the permitted vehicle was fishing.

One piece of information that came from this meeting was the number of all-wheel drive vehicles that are on the beach. I was concerned that these would get struck and lead to other problems. According to the park rangers, so far this has not been a problem as long as the drivers drop the air pressure in their tires before trying to drive on the beach.

Another concern was large vehicles able to carry eight to 10 folks, or people who want to be surf guides taking up more room than the average surf fisherman. Currently, access is limited to two-axle vehicles, and in order to run a guide service, you would need to obtain a concessioner's permit. At this point in time no such permits have been issued.

None of these options have been implemented, but I do think you can count on some major changes to drive-on beach access at Cape Henlopen State Park this summer.