Beach Rule HB140 Will Negatively Affect Garden City Beaches

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

Did Garden City have a say in HB140?  "No, we only found out about it by chance," said Mayor  John Spuhler, "and it affects us a great deal."  HB140 has been modified three times.  Spuhler was allowed to put a "bandaid" on the law but it still does not take into consideration what Garden City beaches will look like if it passes.  The law allows "parallel travel" which means that OHV or cars can drive up and down the beaches, something Garden City has been trying to stop for several years.

Because there is only one enforcement officer, the beaches are not supervised and if this law passes, the "race track" effect of kids playing on OHV and cars going up and down the beach to find a place will be back.  Garden city has prohibited this in the past.

Rep. Kurt Webb R-Logan is the sponsor of the bill.  The Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee is scheduled to take up the bill, Monday, February 23.  If it passes it then goes to the Senate for a vote.

Web said in an article for the Herald Journal that "Public access to the beach is limited by the stuff you can carry in on foot."  Garden City responds with the fact that the thousands of people who use the beach often leave their trash behind even when they have vehicles.

This bill allows vehicles to go 1/2 mile in each direction from a public access.  Spuhler said that the free city shuttle will take people to each public access from free parking throughout the city.  Some accommodation could be made for handicapped access.  Spuhler said that the city has gone through an extensive master planning effort to identify public access and parking and to provide "world class beaches".  The city has also cleaned over 60 drainage ditches to eliminate the boggy parts of the beach, vehicle travel will crush these natural drainages.