2016.01.20 The OCR
Since November 2007, the Naturists in the OC have quietly rented the Huntington Beach City Gym and Pool for private gatherings, where they swim, and play volleyball and basketball. The only difference between it and other groups, they say, is that they do it without clothes.
In September, that practice came to a halt when City Manager Fred Wilson signed a regulation prohibiting use of the facility and others like it to the nudists, citing that “the exposure unreasonably interferes” with city employees’ abilities to perform their responsibilities during private rentals.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, about 15 members of the nudist group showed up to protest the regulation and asked for it to be rescinded.
R. Allen Baylis, an attorney and president of the local group, complained that Wilson “adopted the resolution on his own with no input from the City Council.” Baylis asked either that Wilson rescind the regulation or be directed by City Council to withdraw it.
Wilson said he adopted the regulation because “there were concerns brought to my attention that led to us revisiting the issue.” Wilson added that his intent was to leave the policy in effect, unless directed otherwise by the City Council.
City Coucilwoman Jill Hardy said “I am concerned with how city employees volunteered and need to be be re-assured that they are truly volunteering.”
City Attorney Michael Gates supported the regulation in a letter to Baylis, noting the city had a longstanding ordinance banning nudity in public facilities. Although the ban had not been enforced, Gates wrote that past enforcement of city ordinances was not relevant to current enforcement and that the city ban had not changed.
According to the city code, it is unlawful for anyone over the age of 9 to be exposed on public land. California law bans public exposure “where there are present other persons to be offended or annoyed.”
However, the protestors said the ordinance and law were not violated as they were careful to close the facility and cover the windows to prevent being seen by anyone who was not a member or invited guest of the group. They also said that public employees volunteered to work at their events and none had ever complained about being uneasy or offended.
Rolf Holbach, president of the nonprofit Southern California Naturist Association, said the group was “being singled out and no longer welcomed in the city.” The group also said it carefully cleaned the facility thoroughly before leaving.
The naturists began hosting the swim parties shortly after the city banned nudity in its borders largely to target one naturist who took to lounging naked in the front yard of his downtown house.
At the time, city officials had their attorneys review the rental request and decided it allowed under law because the swimming pool is not in a public setting.
“It is not illegal to be nude in a private setting,” Huntington Beach spokeswoman Laurie Payne said at the time.
Because there was no item on the City Council agenda about the regulation, no action was taken Tuesday.
