On March 20, 2020, Mayor Lenny Curry ordered across-the-board closure of all Duval County beaches due to COVID-19, effective at 5:00 p.m., and declared that anyone on the beaches will be "considered trespassing."

We urgently request that Duval County's broad-sweeping closure of all beaches (with no reasonable exceptions or limitations), be deemed NOT to apply to residents of Duval County's Beaches Communities (i.e., Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach or Jacksonville Beach) who can submit an ID with proof of their residential address within those Beaches communities.

Our beaches (and the ocean) provide the only remaining safe space for fresh air and outdoor recreation for many of us. Moreover, the public trust doctrine supports public beach access, and does not preclude the government from imposing reasonable conditions and limitations for beach access in order to maintain the public health, safety and welfare.  The relief we are requesting is one such measure.

Beaches residents understand and support all reasonable efforts to control and limit the spread of COVID-19, and of course, the CDC‘s guidelines on "social distancing" (including limitations of the number of people in a single gathering, and the spacing of groups of people), should be rigorously followed and strictly enforced to ensure everyone’s safety and compliance.  Further, we understand police and other enforcement resources are limited. This common-sense approach of allowing Beaches residents only would substantially limit the number of beach goers and would make enforcement far more feasible and manageable.