California city officials dump 37 tons of sand over skate park to stop rebellious skateboarders from breaking state's stay at home orders (5 Pics)

Skateboarders hoping to kick-flip their way through the coronavirus pandemic in a Southern California city were delivered a shock this week when they arrived at their local skate park to find it had been covered with 37 tons of sand.

Officials in San Clemente officially closed its parks and recreational facilities on April 1 as part of the state's stay at home orders to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

However, in the two weeks that followed, officials received numerous complaints that large groups of people were still continuing to gather at Ralph's Skate Court - ignoring the number of 'No Trespassing' signs displayed at the park's entrance and disregarding the state's social distancing guidelines.

Taking a hard-line stance, officials finally decided to draw a line in the sand - literally - on April 13, dumping 37 tons of the granular substance over the park's bowls and ramps.

Skateboarders hoping to kick-flip their way through the coronavirus pandemic in San Clemente were delivered a shock this week when they arrived at Ralph's Skate Court to find it had been covered with 37 tons of sand

Officials received numerous complaints that large groups of people were still continuing to gather at Ralph's Skate Court, after the city's parks and other facilities were closed on April 1

'On April 1, we kind of let it play out to see if users would abide by the closure,' Samantha Wylie, San Clemente’s recreation manager for the Beaches, Parks and Recreation Department, told the San Clemente Times.

'During that [two-week period], we saw people continue to skate the park, groups would gather, kids with their parents; it became a regular [occurrence],' she added. 'It appeared the closure was not being abided by.'

While the sand has proved an effective deterrent for most, one determined skater was spotted riding through openings in the sand on Friday. Others have been pictured using the park as a beach, sunbathing in its make-shift dunes.

'The sand was what other agencies were doing,' Wylie explained. 'We’re doing what other parks have done to enforce that message of social distancing.'

While the sand has proved an effective deterrent for most, one determined skater was spotted riding through openings in the sand on Friday

Others have been pictured using the park as a beach, sunbathing in its make-shift dunes

Wylie said the city explored a number of other options before deciding to coat the park with sand, including installing higher fences or filling the skate bowls with hay.

'We did consider fencing. Fencing is really difficult to get right now, and we know we’ve done fencing at the skate park before, and it just gets hopped over,' she explained.

'We also considered security, but there’s a cost to that,' Wylie added. 'The sand, it cost us nothing to put it in, [and] it’ll cost us nothing to remove it. So that’s why we went with that decision.'

However, a nonprofit group that raises money to support the skate park have criticized the move and voiced disappointment that the city didn't inform them of their intentions first.

'We have a pretty far reach with the skate community, we would have been happy to spread the message,' Stephanie Aguilar, president of the San Clemente Skatepark Coalition said, adding that she believed the city could've better used social media o warn skaters of what would happen if they kept showing up.

'But there was no warning or anything. A lot of people have poured their hearts into making a better community for skateboarding.

'That visual representation of the city dumping sand into the skate park, it almost feels like, when you look at it, the city vandalized its own park, and I think it pains people to see it.'

However, a nonprofit group that raises money to support the skate park have criticized the move and voiced disappointment that the city didn't inform them of their intentions first

Aguilar also pointed out that tennis courts and other facilities are still being used by the public, but the same harsh measures haven't been put in place.

'Social distancing hasn’t been followed in a lot of different areas, whether it’s on our trails, tennis courts, the basketball courts, the walking paths; we didn’t see the city dump sand on the walking trail,' Aguilar told the Times. 'We didn’t see them dump sand onto any other sport area that’s being used. It just plays into, kind of feeds into that double standard the skate community has been treated with.'

According to state statistics, California has 27,528 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 985 deaths attributed to the illness as of Saturday afternoon, while the U.S. as a whole has 709,837 cases and 37,308 deaths.