City Council moves to regulate camps
CITY HALL The beach figures to be less crowded this summer, following a move by the City Council on Tuesday to better regulate surf camps, which have increased in number over the last few years.
The steady increase has created conflicts with other surfers and swimmers while raising concerns about beach access and public safety.
Currently, surf instructors are allowed to teach any number of adults or less than 20 kids under the age of 18 without a city-issued permit. This liberal policy, along with the increased popularity of the sport, has led to the proliferation of surf camps along popular breaks where locals have long flocked to test their surfing skills, city staff and lifeguards said.
Complaints from lifeguards and local surfers led city staff to draft an ordinance requiring all surf instructors who accept some form of payment to apply for a license to operate, regardless of how many students they teach. A limited number of licenses would be issued under the new law and be given on a competitive basis, not first-come, first-serve, said Callie Hurd, open space manager for City Hall.
“This ordinance will allow us to confine surfing instruction and novice surfers to their own areas on the beach where they can learn without having conflict with other recreational activities,” Hurd said. “This will greatly increase public safety and it will establish minimum qualifications for operating a surf camp.”
A major complaint from the community was that City Hall has no way of knowing if surf instructors can perform or are qualified to teach CPR. The law would ensure that those issued licenses are certified.
Anyone caught violating the law would be subject to a $250 fine or a misdemeanor, which would be punishable by a fine of $1,000 and/or six months in jail.
Hurd said surf instructors and members of the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission were against jail time, but the penalty is consistent with other health and safety code laws.
“We are talking about a potentially dangerous situation and if you have someone who is unqualified teaching illegally, that could be a potentially lethal situation,”Hurd said, justifying the penalty. “You may also have someone dealing with children that is not supposed to be around them because of some criminal past, so it seems to me that we should keep the ability to enforce such a penalty, which would only be applied in the most extreme circumstances.”
The council is expected to give final approval of the ordinance later on this month, Hurd said.
During public comment Tuesday, lifeguards spoke in favor of more oversight.
Mickey Gallagher, captain of Los Angeles County Lifeguards, said it has become increasingly difficult to maintain safety at the beach because of the increase of surfing camps. He said swimmers and surfers often find themselves drifting into each other’s areas. Fights have also broken out between rival surf instructors as they compete for business.
Areas of the beach have been “blackballed” by lifeguards because of the excessive number of surfers.
City staff has recommended that the number of licenses issued vary by season based on recommendations from lifeguards, demand for lessons and other beach activities and uses.
Permits would be issued first to camps contracting with the city’s community programs division and then to accredited educational institutions offering surf instruction, such as Santa Monica College.
Last year, 23 applications were received from youth surf camp operators for three locations identified by lifeguards and city staff. Four applications were received for other types of youth groups conducting water activities and three permits were granted, according to a city staff report.
For the summer of 2008, city staff estimates that permits would be issued for the city’s community programs around Tower 29 and north of the Santa Monica Pier, and for accredited institutions and individual and walk-up instruction around Tower 18.
Surfer Jennifer Argenti has experienced the overcrowding firsthand and believes regulation is needed, however, she encourages surf camps because it is a “great activity for kids.”
“It has gotten very overpopulated …,” Argenti said. “I would use the word dangerous.”
She suggested moving the camps to areas that are less popular, such as Towers 26 and 27. Some instructors were concerned that the proposed ordinance would help larger surf camps create a monopoly, forcing others out of business.
“Many surf schools and instructors may not be able to earn a living,” said Allen King. “Our livelihood depends on the decision you make here today.”
Others said regulation goes against the true spirit of surfing.
In the end, though, members of the council felt it was best to have some oversight to protect the public and ensure access to the water.
“I strongly support giving young people more access and appreciation of Santa Monica Bay,” said Councilman Kevin McKeown. “We need to accommodate learning surfers. The problem … is two-fold — concentration and commercialization. That is why we’re stepping in now, to figure out some way to get a handle on the concentration and commercialization of the most wonderful, free-spirited sport there is here in the beach community — surfing.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 11, 2008. Read the original PDF.