CARLSBAD, Calif. (KGTV) — Joining Oceanside and California state beaches, Carlsbad city officials announced Friday that they will close beach parking lots for the July 4 weekend.
The city says that beach parking lots will be closed July 4 and 5 in Carlsbad, over concerns of crowds from counties where beaches are closed traveling to the region.
Carlsbad's decision comes after a letter from the Governor's Office of Emergency Services and days after Oceanside instituted a similar beach parking closure.
RELATED: Crowds flock to San Diego beaches for Fourth of July weekend
Earlier this week, San Diego County Supervisors said they did not plan to mandate county beaches to close and would leave it up to cities to decide themselves.
"At the time of writing, beaches under the jurisdiction of local governments within San Diego County are the only beaches without visitation restrictions throughout all of Southern California, and therefore are attracting thousands of residents from outside your coastal communities and creating significant potential for disease transmission, particularly in crowded restaurants, bars, retail, and hotels," Cal OES wrote in a letter to the cities of San Diego, Imperial Beach, Coronado, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Oceanside. "To protect the public health of San Diegans and reduce the high potential transmission of this deadly disease in San Diego coastal businesses, we write to request that municipal governments do not open beach parking lots for the July 4th holiday weekend."
Beaches in Los Angeles, Orange, Santa Barbara, and Venture Counties are closed this weekend amid surging coronavirus cases in the state.
California closed state beach parking lots, including those in San Diego County, ahead of Saturday.
