SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — The City of South Haven is implementing new safety rules for their beaches. City manager Kate Hosier said the ordinance prevents people from going onto the beach and the pier when it’s closed.
Violators, she said, will face either a civil infraction or a $1,000 fine.
“It is a pretty steep fine,” said Hosier during a Zoom interview with Fox 17 on Monday. “But I guess the best way to put it is that the City Council really wants to address the concerns of community, that it's the safety of people who are coming to the water, but it's also the first responders and the police and the fire department, EMS who are going down there to assist as well.”
Hosier said unsafe conditions — like contamination, debris washing ashore, severe weather identified by the NWS, and waves exceeding 8 feet — will make the city will close its beaches.
She said that amount of water can pull anyone in and under.
“The dangers on the pier are that there could be very high waves that go across and it doesn't take very much water to swing the person off the pier,” she said. “And when we see those high wind, high wave conditions, we have determined those would be ideal conditions to close the pier.”
She added that during severe weather and high waves, certain activities are permitted: surfing, long boarding, kite boarding, and body or boogie boarding. However, they must abide by the safety rules, including using a leash and wearing weather appropriate clothing.
She recommends everyone pay attention to the beach flags when they first arrive to get an idea of what the conditions are like for that day.
“We looked at the water conditions in the beginning of the day and at least four times during the day to find out what the conditions are and we're looking at National Weather Service as well,” she said. “When we elevate those beach safety flags from green to yellow to red, we send out a Nixle alert and we're trying to let people know what the conditions are. So, what this order says that if there's a red flag and you go into the water after the red flag has been posted, you could be subject to the civil infraction or the $1,000 fine.”
