Miami-Dade County Lays Out 'New Normal Initiative' Plan For Reopening Amid Coronavirus Crisis
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez held a virtual town hall Monday afternoon to begin laying out details of his 'New Normal Initiative' for reopening the County in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
The details outline plans to reopen Miami-Dade Parks, marinas and golf courses in phases, but beaches will have to wait.
Gimenez said any openings would be guided by medical experts, and said law enforcement would crack down on people not practicing social distancing.
"Each opening will require people to follow social distancing," said Gimenez at the start of the virtual town hall. "Any opening will be met with zero tolerance for those who break the rules on social distancing."
MIAMI-DADE PARKS: PHASE 1:
- Open community and neighborhood parks sunrise to sunset to be used for only 1 or 2 hours.
- Limit activities to walking, jogging, hiking, and cycling, nature walks on trails and quiet enjoyment of the outdoors, individual basketball play only, tennis singles play only, racquetball individual play only.
- Walking and nature paths will be one way
- Face masks must be worn.
- Open Deering Estate, Fruit & Spice Park and Trail Glades Gun Range.
- Open restrooms.
- Open basketball courts for individual play only. Team or pick-up games are prohibited, only 3 players per half court. Must bring your own basketball/no shared use.
- Open tennis courts for singles play only.
- Open racquetball courts for individual play only. Competitive games are prohibited.
- No recreational programming, pick-up games, organized sports or activities will be allowed.
- No groups of 10 or more will be allowed in parks; smaller groups must maintain social distancing following CDC/Health Department guidelines.
- Amenities that will remain closed include: playgrounds, and exercise equipment, dog parks, recreation buildings, picnic shelters, play fields, gyms, campgrounds, skate parks and swimming pools, all sports field lighting will remain off.
- Seniors can use parks any time and have priority and access at dedicated parks, 2 hours in early morning, three times a week.
- Police, park ranger and roving park/DAE teams will follow CDC health department protocols and patrol parks to ensure compliance. Virtual recreational programming ongoing, on-line.
- Parks will take extra measures to keep open facilities clean and sanitized.
BOATING AND MARINAS:
- Boats must remain 50 feet apart at all times
- No tying up in Stiltsville
- No gatherings of more than 10 people
- Rafting up of boats is prohibited
- Beaching of boats is prohibited
- Landings are prohibited
CAPACITY OF BOATS:
- Boats 25' or less: 4 adults maximum; or immediate family (children 18 & under)
- Boats 26' – 36': 6 adults maximum; or immediate family (children 18 & under)
- Boats 37'+: 8 adults maximum; or immediate family(children 18 & under)
- Jet Ski rental operations will be single riders only. Safe CDC guidelines regarding sanitizing must be followed.
CHARTER VESSELS:
- Six-Pack vessels must adhere to no more than 4 guests per vessel and CDC guidelines
- Drift fishing (head) boats will be addressed on a specific order from the Mayor's office.
KAYAKS/CANOES:
- Kayak/canoe launch areas reopen.
BOAT RAMP PROTOCOL:
- Ramps will be open from 6 am – 8 pm daily
- 1 boat per launch ramp at a time.
- Vessels must be prepared in advance to launch (plug secured, dock lines tied, safety equipment and provisions already onboard).
- All passengers must board the vessel once it is launched.
- Upon returning to the dock all passengers must remain on the vessel until the boat is ready to be loaded unto the trailer.
- Once loaded, the passenger(s) shall return to their vehicle(s) and exit the launch facility together.
FISH CLEANING STATIONS:
- One person per station at a time.
- Proper cleaning and sanitation processes should always be always be practiced.
FISHING PIERS:
- Social distancing at a minimum of 10 ft. between fishermen must be followed.
PUBLIC RESTROOMS/SHIP STORES:
- Access to public restrooms will be available.
- Safe protocol in accordance with CDC guidelines must be followed.
- Those entering ship (bait & tackle) stores will be required to practice social distancing and utilize personal protective equipment in accordance with CDC guidelines.
- Bait suppliers and boat repair shops will be addressed on a specific order from the Mayor's office.
- Safe protocol in accordance with CDC guidelines must be followed.
MIAMI-DADE GOLF COURSES:
- Players will be responsible for bringing their golf equipment to a designated area.
- No clubs or other equipment will be transported by golf course staff. •
- Designated signage will be placed outside the pro-shop and clubhouse outlining the required social distancing guidelines with masks. •
- Designated signage will be placed on carts and around the club-house with the phone number to call for food orders and an explanation of how to pay.
- All guidelines will be followed to not exceed gathering limits established by local and state authorities.
- No indoor events will be conducted.
- Pro-Shop entrances, where possible, will be closed.
- Payment will be made at front door following proper social distancing guidelines.
- Glass/plastic screen between pro-shop staff and customers will be installed. o
- Staff will wear masks and gloves at all times. o
- Where applicable, separate entry and exit doors will be designated.
- No locker room usage and no bag storage usage.
- For all pro-shop lines, markers will be placed on the floor at six feet intervals to comply with social distancing guidelines.
- Hand sanitizer and/or disinfectant wipes will be provided in bathrooms/payment areas.
- Bathrooms will have disinfectant wipes for golfers to wipe down everything they touched before exiting.
- Encourage only one person in each bathroom at any time (signage placed).
- After sanitizing cart, if able to be sourced, provide disinfectant wipes in each cart when available.
- Each cart and any rental equipment will be cleaned and disinfected prior to players use.
- All sand containers, scorecards, pencils, tees, towels, coolers or other shared materials will be removed from golf carts.
- Disinfect all bathrooms and touch-point areas every two hours.
- Driving-range hitting areas will be spaced at least 10-feet apart.
- Scorecard, pencil and tees will only be issued to individuals when requested from starter, but then discarded after their initial use.
GOLF-COURSE PREPARATION:
- A noodle will be used to fill the hole or the cup will be raised an inch above ground to prevent the ball from going in the hole (prevents flagpole touching).
- EZ lift touchless golf ball retrieval system or similar touchless system.
- Rakes in all Bunkers will be Removed:
- USGA suggestions will be followed to use different approaches on how to treat bunker play depending on the course and its resources. o
- USGA suggests golfers play preferred lie and players to "rake" with their feet.
- All water stations will be removed.
- All ball wash units will be removal or locked down.
- All practice facility bag stands, chairs and PVC pipes for picking up balls will be removed.
- All range-balls will be cleaned, with water and soap, after every pick-up prior to making them available for golfers.
- Where possible, 60 and older clientele will be separated from younger clientele.
PLAYING
- Players will be informed not to touch or remove flagstick from the cups at all times (any putts that hit the cup or noodle will be considered holed).
- All players must stay at least six feet apart at all times, and a course ranger or other staff member will monitor player compliance on the course. •
- One player per cart, no exceptions.
- Walking is allowed while maintaining social distancing requirements.
- All golfers are required to leave the golf course immediately after playing to eliminate congestion and gathering on the property or in the parking lot.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
- Local governmental entity guidelines will be followed.
- Restaurant entry will be remained closed.
- Payment for take-out food will be made at the restaurant front door following social distancing requirements.
- No sit down-areas will be allowed for eating.
- Staff will be required to wear a facemask and gloves.
- Beverage cart staff on the course will wear facemask and gloves at all times.
- Signage will be placed on beverage carts stating that no player will be allowed to touch anything on the beverage cart.
- Only cart attendant will distribute items from the cart.
- Beverage cart attendant will place purchased items on opposite side of the players golf cart, to comply with social distancing requirements.
- For players that are walking, the beverage cart attendant will place the purchased items on the ground and the players will pick it up, to comply with social distancing requirements.
- Players will be encouraged to pay with credit card and cart attendant will wipe down the credit card machine after each use.
STAFF
- Staff will be trained on proper hygiene, sanitation and food handling / COVID-19 prevention and control procedures will be emphasized during training.
- Staff will be trained to recognize the symptoms of COVID-19 and follow CDC guidelines.
- Face masks and gloves will be worn by all staff at all times.
- Staff will be trained there are no handshakes and will remind golfers of this necessity.
BEACHES:
- Opening of beaches should be a phased and coordinated effort in Miami-Dade County and should occur at the same time for the beaches in the cities of Miami Beach, Surfside, Bal Harbour Village, Sunny Isles Beach, Golden Beach and Key Biscayne, as well as for all Miami-Dade County beaches in Haulover Park, Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, and Crandon Park.
- The opening of beaches in Miami-Dade County should also be phased and coordinated to open along with beaches in Broward County, and to the extent possible, in West Palm Beach County and Monroe County.
Recommended Activities Permitted:
- All activities should be passive in nature, and adhering to all CDC recommended social distancing guidelines.
- Walking and jogging on the beach sand and beach shore, with proper distance between people from different households – with a recommended distance of at least 6 feet apart from others, but ideally 15 feet apart.
Activities Not Permitted:
- Organized activities and athletics involving groups of any size.
- Gatherings of people from different households which do not adhere to social distancing. c
- Furnishings / beach chairs / beach equipment – no concession style seating, including beach chairs provided by residential buildings/hotels and concessionaires.
- Sunbathing or sitting on individually owned beach chairs and/or beach towels – as sedentary beachgoers on chairs or towels may be in the way of those walking, jogging or exercising on the beach.
- Swimming – at this time, based on consultation with medical professionals, swimming is not yet advised, but is being continuously discussed to determine when swimming should be permitted.
- The re-opening of beaches should be on a weekday easing into a weekend.
Enforcement of these recommended permitted activities is a major concern and would need thoughtful consideration from all beach cities and the County to ensure proper enforcement.
Over in Broward, Mayor Dale Holness said he is working with Gimenez to be on a joint front.
"We want to make sure that we are timing it and informing the public ahead of time as to when these openings will happen," he said.
Holness said the change may happen toward the end of the month or beginning of May.
