MALIBU—Malibu’s skate park was closed due to COVID-19 on Saturday July 11, the same day Malibu’s community pool opened with social distancing precautions.

The city of Malibu announced the skate park’s closure in a Twitter post writing that due to COVID-19 conditions and in an effort to protect the health of visitors and city staff, the Malibu skate park and the Malibu Bluffs Park will be temporarily closed.

The skate park’s COVID-19 rules were apparently continuously broken. Over the 9 days Malibu’s skate park was open, overcrowding, a lack of face masks, parents not socially distancing, and skaters not leaving at their reservation’s end all occurred and resulted in the decision to close the skatepark.

City Manager Reva Feldman said Sheriffs have been called, “multiple times every day to try and enforce the rules.”

The Malibu community pool, located at Malibu High School, opened with similar COVID-19 precautions as Malibu’s temporary skate park originally opened. The pool requires online reservations and has been divided into lanes. One person, or two from the same household are allowed 45 minutes of swim time before cleaning procedures begin for the next group.

Kate Gallo, Malibu Recreation Supervisor, said the pool has received, “over 70 Malibu residents that have made reservations for lap swim through mid-August.” The pool’s first day after months of closure due to COVID-19 opened at full capacity with 13 swimmers.

Malibu’s temporary skate park opened earlier this month on July 3, ending the near 10 year period since Papa Jack’s skate park was destroyed to provide room for a new Whole Foods location. Malibu’s temporary skate park opened with a reservation system, allowing only 12 skaters in the park at a time for one hour-long sessions.

Community Service Director Jesse Bobbett previously told Canyon News in regard to the temporary skate park’s openings, “Skating’s such big deal and they [Malibu skaters] haven’t had a place to skate in 9 years.”

To register for a 45-minute swim at the Malibu community pool click here and to find updated information on Malibu’s skate park click here.