New Restriction at Lake MacBride May Send Beach-goers Packing

Park officials at Lake MacBride announced they're going to cap the number beach-goers.  It's due to overcrowding and a limited number of parking spaces. 

 The park will use a couple of guidelines to restrict the number of vehicles and visitors .  First, the forecast high for the day has to be 80 degrees or more.  And all 250 spaces in the beach parking lot on the north end of the park have to be filled.

That could cause some frustration since many people are planning a day by the water this hot Fourth of July weekend.

"If its really good weather on the 4th of July, or through the weekend, I expect we'll have to turn people away," said Joe Wilkinson with Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

 Regular beachgoers, like Steve Towne, say they understand why this has to be done.

"Parking gets filled up really fast and then overflow parking, it just gridlocks," said Towne, enjoying a day at the beach with his daughter. 

DNR says once the parking lot fills people start parking along the narrow road leading to the lot and to the beach.  They say this has caused trouble for emergency vehicles trying to get down to the water.  It's a risk mother of two, Sharon Roman, says she doesn't want to take.

"Something could happen, and if an emergency vehicle cant get through, that'd be an unfortunate situation," Roman said.

DNR says they don't have immediate plans to add more parking to the northside beach parking lot, and are not sure if there's even enough space to add additional parking.

"One thing you also have to weigh is the park is one of these beautiful places to get away," said Wilkinson, "You could find places to pave, but at what expense?"