SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Madison County took the drastic step this week to close one of their public parks—for the first time in the county’s history. Delphi Falls shut down to visitors on July 13, with the county citing visitor misconduct as the reason for the closure. The park has a planned reopen on July 20, but the county will not hesitate to close Delphi Falls again if visitors don’t change their behavior.
The decision to close Delphi Falls came from the Madison County Board of Supervisors. A press release posted to a fence barrier outside the park’s parking lot indicated their decision was made after some visitors engaged in inappropriate behavior. This behavior included climbing the waterfall, littering, consuming alcohol and not following social distancing guidelines.
Madison County’s Planning Department director Scott Ingmire, whose department oversees the county’s parks, emphasized that a majority of park visitors were abiding by the rules.
“Ninety-eight percent of the people that went out there were respectful and used it in the way we would’ve hoped they would,” Ingmire said. “Unfortunately, it was a small subset of people that just took advantage of the situation.”
Delphi Falls County Park had experienced little to no issue since the county opened it in mid-2018. Ingmire believes that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen more people escaping lockdown measures outdoors, visitor traffic to the park increased. This uptick in public attendance brought with it previously unseen rule violators, according to Ingmire.
“I do have to imagine that the current situation has kind of spilled over to cause some tension out there … Things were just kind of boiling over and that was really what led to [closing the park],” he said.
The county worried that with visitors swimming in the pool beneath the falls and climbing up the waterfall, it would become a liability issue. The trash and broken bottles left behind would also damage the park’s natural resources.
To curb these violations and prevent more serious issues, the board opted to close the park for one week. “Really I think the goal was to kind of just let things cool off, maybe do something to let people think about … the impact of their actions,” Ingmire said.
Ingmire’s department is considering different strategies to keep visitors in line with the park rules. They’ve discussed placing county staff members at the park to monitor visitors and talk to people who aren’t using the space respectfully. Ingmire hopes they won’t have to go so far as to create a paid position to oversee the park on a daily basis but that is something that has been discussed. Signs placed around the park to deter certain behaviors may also be implemented, although Ingmire acknowledges that signs may ruin the scenic beauty of the park.
While Madison County is hoping this one-week shut down will do the trick to teach violators a lesson, Ingmire explained that if behavior doesn’t change, closing the park again is likely on the table. The county hasn’t laid out any specific plans for another closure but the possibility does exist.
“Obviously, this isn’t something we wanted to do, but kind of got forced into this situation and I’m hoping going forward that it can be corrected,” Ingmire said.
