CAROLINA BEACH —The popular vehicle-access beach Freeman Park is expected to close to car traffic at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
The decision was made due to public safety concerns after the beach reached capacity limits, according to town spokesperson Sheila Nicholson.
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Visitors are still allowed to access any part of Freeman Park on foot.
“Public safety staff will regularly assess the situation to determine if and when the park can safely be reopened or when additional closures are required,” Nicholson said in a press release late Saturday morning.
The town plans to re-open the park to vehicles on Sunday morning, although it anticipates “similar conditions” at that time and warned visitors that another closure is possible “pending the level of patron use.”
Visitors are urged to check the town’s Facebook page for updates.
Earlier Saturday morning, the Carolina Beach Police Department announced that a man’s body was found in the shallow waters of the town’s beach strand in the area near Scallop Lane, roughly a thousand feet north of the Carolina Beach Boardwalk.
The man has been identified and police are working to notify his next of kin. An autopsy to determine the man’s cause of death is scheduled at the North Carolina’s Medical Examiner’s Office.
