Beach yoga, fitness classes may require fee next year
City to create policy for shorefront activities
After years of allowing many fitness groups to access the beach unfettered, the city will likely create an official policy for people holding beachfront yoga and exercise classes by next year.
City director of commerce and economic development Tom Gilmour is currently drafting a policy, and he expects it to be complete by October. It could be in effect before next summer.
Gilmour is examining nearby shore towns’ procedures for dealing with beachfront activities in order to create a policy for Asbury Park, he said. Some towns ban beachfront activities like yoga altogether, while others charge a fee to for-profit groups using the beach. The latter is a more likely solution for Asbury Park, Gilmour said.
The policy will likely require event organizers to purchase insurance as well, Gilmour said.
The policy will likely be similar to the city’s special events permit process, “where you’d apply for it, we’d review it and it would go in front of the council for approval with a fee associated,” Gilmour said.
Currently, exercise classes and other activities are held on the beach before 9 a.m. without restriction and without participants paying for use of the beach. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., beach badges are required, so most activities take place in the early morning.
“Ten years ago, when nobody was coming here and nobody used our beach, there were a lot of people who went on our beach” and used it for activities like yoga and fitness boot camp, Gilmour said today. “Those were for-profit [organizations], basically using our beach as a facility to make more money for their business.”
The city does not have an issue with nonprofit ventures, he said.
“If people are doing yoga for free, we don’t have any problem with that,” Gilmour said. “But if people are running their business on the beach, we have a problem with that.”
