Chatham Bans Large Gatherings On Outer Beaches

CHATHAM – If your Labor Day weekend includes a big party on North Beach or North Beach Island, you might want to rethink your plans.

 The select board voted last week to endorse a policy banning large private gatherings of more than 20 people on both the town’s portion of North/Nauset Beach and on North Beach Island. 

 Officials cited the logistics of such gatherings and the difficulty of town agencies, including police and fire, to respond to emergencies on the outer beach and the island. While North Beach is accessible by vehicle from Orleans, it is several miles from the Nauset Beach parking lot access point to the town’s property at the tip of the barrier beach, so access by boat is usually quicker. North Beach Island can only be reached by boat. Both areas are environmentally sensitive.

 The board’s recommendation will go to the park and recreation commission, which has jurisdiction over North Beach Island and has indicated its support for the prohibition, said Natural Resources Director Greg Berman. The town has joint beach rules and regulations with Orleans governing North/Nauset Beach, which will have to be amended. Annual review of the intermunicipal agreement governing the barrier beach between the two towns is expected this fall.

 The ban would not impact informal gatherings, Berman said.

 “This would not stop a family from getting together,” he said. “It would not stop 10 people from walking next to each other” on the outer beach. It would also not impact the few private parcels remaining on North Beach Island.

 Officials denied a request for a wedding on North Beach earlier this year, and there have been other inquiries about holding events on the outer beach, Berman said. But the impetus for the ban was a large, impromptu party that took place on North Beach Island on the 2025 July 4 weekend. Police had to break up the gathering, which left the beach strewn with garbage and detritus, said select board Chair Jeffrey Dykens.

 “It was gigantic, and it wasn’t a responsible gigantic,” he said of the gathering. It was “messy, bad,” he added. “They really left the beach in a mess. And that is not what we want in Chatham.”

The park and recreation commission’s rules require a permit issued by the chief of police for gatherings of more than 20 people on North Beach Island. Police Chief Lou Malzone said at the risk of being known as the “fun police,” he won’t sign any permits due to the logistics and resources necessary to monitor gatherings on the island. According to a memo, police, harbormaster, natural resources and other staff met in June for a pre-season public safety review and agreed that emergency response to the outer beach is “difficult and time consuming by both land and water.” Transporting personnel and equipment requires advanced staging, vessel and vehicle capacity is limited, and a number of factors, including tides, staffing and Coast Guard availability, can impact response time.

“There really wasn’t a way” to come up with a permit process to satisfy staff concerns, said Berman. Dealing with unplanned large gatherings is “a separate item” that officials may have to deal with on a case-by-case basis, he added.

Select board member Stuart Smith, the town’s former harbormaster, said the prohibition will be “completely ineffectual.”

“I don’t mind voting for a ban,” he said. “I just don’t want to kid ourselves. It’s going to be ineffectual.” He suggested the town work with beach shuttle operators to ensure they know about the prohibition and posting the information at town landings from which private boat operators access the outer beach. The town should aggressively enforce the prohibition so that word about it spreads, he added.

Smith also said the town should work with Orleans regarding enforcement of regulations on the Chatham section of North Beach, which is less than a mile long. It would make more sense to contract with Orleans for enforcement than for the town to expend the resources needed to oversee the remote location, he said.

Board member Dean Nicastro agreed, but for now he supported the recommendation to prohibit large planned gatherings. “It backs up what the police are doing anyway,” he said.

The board voted unanimously to support the prohibition.