Last call for alcohol at Lake Macbride and Pleasant Creek beaches?

Last call could be coming to two local lakes where officials have struggled with boozing beachgoers.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is proposing banning alcohol — liquor, beer and wine — on beaches in Lake Macbride State Park near Solon in Johnson County and at the Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area near Palo in Linn County, which is closed this year for a shoreline restoration project.

Citations and reports indicate alcohol consumption at the two locations 'are presenting legitimate safety risks to the public and department personnel,' Todd Coffelt, a state parks bureau chief for the Iowa DNR, stated in an agency memo.

He noted people were drinking 'to the point of almost unconsciousness.'

The Natural Resource Commission of the Iowa DNR will vote on Thursday on a notice of intended action to amend administrative code chapter 61, which governs state parks, recreation areas, state forest and camping. The commission meets at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at Center Lodge in Dolliver Memorial State Park in Webster County.

Reserved rental facilities in the 200-foot buffer area around the sand beaches would be exempted from the ban, if the rule change is approved. If the commission gives the green light on its notice of intended action, a public comment period will open through July 26. A public hearing is scheduled for the same day.

At the earliest, the board could vote on a final draft of the rule change in August, and it would be published this fall, meaning the ban wouldn't take effect until the 2017 swimming season, Iowa DNR spokesman Kevin Baskins said.

If approved, the plan would restore normal hours at the beaches, instead of closing them at 6 p.m. The early closing was started in July 2015 after a rash of alcohol-related incidents, such as assaults, public intoxication and underage drinking.

To comment email Sherry.Arntzen@dnr.iowa.gov or call (515)725-8486.