Providing people with maps to show defined First Amendment zones at the three Incline beaches is one of the changes the Incline Village General Improvement District plans to implement in its recently-enacted First Amendment policy.

According to Bill Horn’s General Manager’s Report, which is included in the agenda packet for Thursday’s special IVGID Board of Trustees budget meeting, the maps will be given to any individual who plans to visit the beaches to practice First Amendment rights, and they will show “the specific area they may express their First Amendment rights.”

In a Thursday morning phone interview, Horn said the reasoning for the map is to ensure the policy’s initial goal: To not disrupt daily operations of the beaches.

“We will have a map of the exact areas where we would like people to express their First Amendment rights,” Horn said. “We are going to designate areas, that when people come to express First Amendment rights, that there is a high probability of not getting in the way of operations.”

The IVGID Board of Trustees, at its April 30 meeting, unanimously adopted Policy and Procedure 136 — Policy Concerning Access to District Property and the Use of District Facilities for Expression. An updated version of the policy is available at www.ivgid.org.

Another change detailed in Horn’s report involves administering wrist bands for people who plan to attend the beaches to practice First Amendment rights, to differentiate them from beach patrons.

However, Horn confirmed in a Thursday phone interview the wrist band idea will not be implemented.

“We just decided we’re not going to do wrist bands,” Horn said.

One more change Horn highlights in his report is that people wishing to express First Amendment rights at the beaches “will be handed a success list of what is allowed and what will not be allowed.”

That “success list” will detail, in more depth, the three key requirements defined in the GM report, Horn said. Those requirements are:
• Not get in the way of operations.
• (Not) going outside of the designated area.
• (Not) violating the space of those who are not interested in hearing or receiving their expression of their First Amendment rights.

In the report, Horn writes: “Staff anticipates no challenges with those who desire to express their First Amendment rights.

Thursday morning, Horn echoed that statement.

“We’re not hiring an extra staff,” he said. “There is a high level of trust that people will follow the simple rules, that they aren’t going to go outside of what Policy 136 says.”
The full GM report can be viewed within the IVGID board agenda at www.ivgid.org, or in person at 893 Southwood Blvd.

Also in Thursday’s phone interview, Horn addressed a common question that has surfaced since the policy was adopted, as to why the Championship Golf Course isn’t included in the policy as either a public forum or a non-public forum.

“The Chateau is (on the public forum list); that’s the entrance to the golf course,” Horn said.