Input sought on plan to ban alcohol at area beaches

State officials have scheduled two public hearings to get feedback on plans to ban alcohol on beaches in two area parks.

Last month, the Iowa Natural Resource Commission voted 6-0 in favor of an Iowa Department of Natural Resources-proposed update to state park rules to ban alcohol - beer, wine and hard liquor - from beaches at Lake Macbride State Park in Johnson County and Pleasant Creek State Park near Palo in Linn County.

A recent analysis of citations on state beaches found a good number of incidents involving public intoxication, assault, littering and interference with official acts on those two beaches, officials said.

'Those are the only two that stuck out,” said Kevin Baskins, a DNR spokesman.

Public hearings are to be held:

' 2 p.m. July 26 in the fourth floor conference room of the Wallace State Office Building, 502 E. Ninth St., Des Moines.

' 4 p.m. July 26 in the Palisades-Kepler State Park Lodge, 700 Kepler Drive, Mount Vernon.

For proposed rule changes, a beach is defined as areas 'designated for swimming activity including the sand, a 200-foot buffer of land surrounding the sand or a designated area which is fenced in, and the water area contiguous to the beach as marked by swim buoys or swim lines,” according to a news release.

Reserved rental facilities in a 200-foot buffer area around the sand beaches or fenced-in area would be exempt from the ban.

Public comments are to be used in drafting final language for proposed rule changes, which then returns to the Iowa Natural Resource Commission for discussion, Baskins said. If approved, they move on to the Administrative Rules Commission in the Legislature. If they pass that committee, the rules go into effect.

'This would probably be something that would go into effect in the 2017 beach season,” Baskins said.

Officials from the DNR tabulated the number of incidents and citations at 48 state parks and lakes in Iowa, and two-thirds of the 947 incidents at state beaches occurred at Pleasant Creek and Lake Macbride.

Pleasant Creek had 888 incidents and citations in the entire recreation area from 2010 to 2015, including 95 involving alcohol, and 427 incidents and citations at the beach, including 90 involving alcohol. The state recreation area also had 254 calls for assistance in that time.

Lake Macbride had 371 incidents and citations in the recreation area from 2010 to 2015, including 232 involving alcohol, and 222 incidents and citations at the beach, including 221 that involved alcohol. The state park also had 269 calls for assistance in that time.

By comparison, Lake Manawa near Council Bluffs was the only location with more incidents and citations - 1,010 - than Pleasant Creek, and the only place with more calls for assistance - 783 - than Lake Macbride. However, only 118 incidents at Lake Manawa involved alcohol and only 11 occurred at the beach.