GILROY
– With hot weather upon us – but before the creeks dry up – the
city is quietly reminding its citizens that creekdipping is against
the law here.
GILROY – With hot weather upon us – but before the creeks dry up – the city is quietly reminding its citizens that creekdipping is against the law here.
Within the last two weeks, city staff replaced “No Swimming” signs that had been stolen from Silva’s Crossing, where Miller Avenue crosses Uvas Creek.
Swimming and wading has been prohibited in all city parks for years, but that hasn’t stopped people from taking dips now and then in Uvas Creek as it wends its way through Christmas Hill Park. When the sun is blazing, some folks find the water inviting – even in late summer when the creek becomes a trickle of stagnant muck.
The grassy picnic ground at Christmas Hill Park goes right down to Silva’s Crossing, the only spot on the creek where signs are posted. There are plenty of other places in Christmas Hill where one easily could swim with no such sign in sight.
It would still be illegal, however – a violation of a city law that says, “No person in a park shall … swim or wade, except in pools or areas designated for that purpose without prior permission of the director.”
Gilroy, by the way, has no city pool or designated swimming area.
“Swimming is only allowed, essentially, in pools,” city Operations Services Manager Carla Ruigh said Tuesday. “You have to have lifeguards.”
Why the creekdipping prohibition?
“It’s not a designated swimming facility; it’s not a pool,” Ruigh said.
With no lifeguard on duty, the city might be liable if someone got hurt or became ill while swimming.
“Swim at your own risk” signs were once common in such areas around the nation, but it’s rare to find one now with the proliferation of lawsuits in recent years, Ruigh acknowledged.
“It’s very typical of cities to not allow swimming except in designated areas,” she said.
It’s hard to tell how long Gilroy’s creekdipping ban has been on the books, according to City Clerk Rhonda Pellin; the law has been in effect at least four-and-a-half years and perhaps as long as 30 years. The public parks conduct section of the city code first went into effect in 1974 and was last updated in September 1999.
Gilroy police are charged with enforcing this, as well as all other city ordinances.
A first violation earns an infraction charge with a fine of up to $100, according to Pellin. A second offense within a year warrants a maximum $200 fine; a third gets up to $500. For every additional offense in the same year, the crime rises to a misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $1,000, up to a year in jail, or both.
Many people let their dogs swim in Uvas Creek. The city code does not prohibit this, but it does require that dogs be secured on a leash no more than six feet long at all times.
Ruigh did not know of any piece of legislation that would explicitly ban creekdipping by dogs, but she did say it would be difficult to let one’s dog do much swimming on a six-foot leash.
It isn’t necessarily illegal to swim in creeks outside city limits, but it’s probably not a good idea – for yourself or for anyone else. Many creeks provide drinking water farther downstream and the cleaner, the better.
“There is a state law that discourages swimming in public waterways,” said Mike DiMarco, spokesman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District. “It discourages what is called ‘body contact’ with water that could end up as drinking water.”
