Thank you for your inquiry regarding AM/PM beach closure for a wedding party this coming Saturday.
I feel I need to fully expand on why we are renting the area as this was only tangentially discussed earlier this year by the BOD and is a unique situation. A member of the Community had rented the Dance Barn for her wedding last year; in fact it was booked a year in advance. We had to inform them March 23rd, 2017 that their venue would be restricted by the no-alcohol ban from the County due to lack of facility fire sprinklers. The Fire Marshal at that time had only allowed the four Jazz Concerts the equivalency of fire watch staff and additional controls which did not include this wedding venue. Once informed, a very distraught bride accompanied by her family, came to the office in great distress to seek help in solving the location as time and venue had collided; she had no alternative location on short notice with summer wedding venues being at a premium, and was completely devastated. Finding a venue on such short notice had become a family disaster. We bent over backwards to fix this problem.
As a consolation, we offered the AM/PM Shelter and beach area, which they accepted. As with most weddings, they have a rehearsal dinner on Friday and it will be at the Shelter. Wedding venue set up and break down time, which included setting up a tent and support equipment starts Friday night and will be completed on Sunday. We have given the family permission to camp in the park over night (Friday and Saturday) as they are responsible for the equipment in its location; given we have encountered vandalism in the park, this is prudent. The family has also hired their own security guard from Pacific Security.
The wedding party has approx. 120 guests, and will be using AM/PM, lower golf, and the Rec Center parking lot for guest parking and shuttling. We do not have the beaches listed in the fee schedule, and as a rule, they should not be rented. In this case we are renting a large area which will include the PM beach as they are set up along and outside of the shelter.
In discussion with the family today they have agreed they will not have rental control over the AM beach, and several (3) slots at the parking area will be open for members. They have also agreed to fund a second security officer so they will have one all day long to help with managing guests and community members who may be unaware of the beach closure and arrive to find an unexpected situation.
Please note that this is not a situation we anticipated encountering. We will not be undertaking renting of the beach areas in the future. We are simply trying to help make the best of a bad situation for a member of our community on her wedding day. I hope this information helps with the concerns community members have expressed.
Mitch Waterman
SVCA General Manager