The sounds of youths scrambling through the sand, running through their paces in the Junior Lifeguard program at Sunset Beach will fall silent this summer.
That is good news to beachfront homeowners in the seaside neighborhood whose annexation by Huntington Beach was recently completed.
“The Sunset Beach Community Association, lead by president Mike Van Voorhis, has cancelled the Junior lifeguard Program, which has been a part of the community for over 20 years,” said Larry Jacklin, director, California Junior Lifeguard Programs, the Newport Beach-based company that runs the Sunset Beach Junior Lifeguards.
During the annexation process the association requested to the city of Huntington Beach, unannounced to the majority of the Sunset Beach residents, to discontinue the program, Jacklin said.
It was passed.
“The residents who have the program taking place in front of their homes, came to the Community Association to complain about the traffic impacts and the noise and dust and what have you related to the Junior Lifeguard program,” Van Voorhis said.
The association went to the county of Orange. Van Voorhis pointed out that under Sunset Beach’s Local Coastal Plan commercial enterprises on the beach, especially in front of the homes, was prohibited.
However, according to Van Voorhis, the association worked with the Junior Lifeguard program to try and mitigate the problems for the residents.
They tried to have the program do a better job of such things as dropping the kids off to make the traffic smoother.
“It was still quite an impact on the residents,” Van Voorhis said.
During the time of the annexation, the association had a transition committee that dealt with Huntington Beach on Sunset Beach issues such as keeping its name, the same parking footprint and the Junior Lifeguard program.
“We solicited community input,” Van Voorhis said.
They came to the conclusion that they would ask the Junior Lifeguards to find another location within a couple of years.
“That was put into our memorandum of understanding (a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between two or more than two parties)” Van Voorhis said. “We honored it as a two-year contract, but it said that after the 2012 season they had to move elsewhere.”
Jacklin reacted with dismay that Sunset Beach would move to have the program moved out of the neighborhood.
“The SBCA was placed to represent the community as a whole, not to appease the selfish request of a handful of residents,” he said. “By allowing this to happen, the SBCA is appeasing a few and disappointing thousands of kids and families.”
According to Jacklin, over the last 20 years, the program has placed more than 10,000 CPR and First Aid certifications back into the community.
These he said have done several ocean rescues and first aids to the public.
“Our staff has been awarded the Bravo for Bravery Award from the American Red Cross for performing CPR on a toddler in the playground at Sunset Beach,” he said. “The value of this program to the community and most importantly the future of Sunset Beach, the kids is priceless.
“The community, as a whole, at Sunset Beach want and need this program to continue. We need help in changing the mind of the SBCA and remind them of doing the right thing, and that is to allow the Sunset Beach Junior lifeguard program to continue. The Sunset Beach Community Association has the ability to let the program continue to educate and motivate the youth.”
Van Voorhis said he does not have a problem with the program, but he does with the impacts it has on Sunset Beach residents.
“We agree that the program is good for kids,” Van Voorhis said. “My kids attended it when they were younger. However, it is not a good fit for residents in Sunset Beach. Our hope is that it can be moved to a more suitable location such as Bolsa Chica, Huntington Beach or Seal Beach.”
Van Voorhis said that California Junior Lifeguard Programs apparently let the clock run out on its deadlines to have a new location for the program.
“We went to the state at Bolsa Chica,” Van Voorhis said. “Unfortunately, the person who made those decisions for Bolsa Chica has retired and they have not filled that position. We could not find anybody who could make that decision.”
Van Voorhis said they went to Huntington Beach to see if they could arrange space for the kids in the Sunset Beach Junior Lifeguard program.
“They said they could not accommodate all of the kids in this program,” Van Voorhis said. “We would like to see this program continue, but not here. Sometimes you have to make the tough decisions.”
Jacklin said he thinks the best decision is to keep the program.
Jacklin urged the community to speak up and attend the monthly meetings held 7:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month at the Women’s Club, 16812 Bayview Dr. (over the bridge at Broadway, behind Captain Jack’s Restaurant).
