The Vineyard Town Council voted Wednesday to create rules and regulations that would prohibit firearms and bonfires in public parks.

Paul Hawker, associate Utah County engineer, said the area in question lies along Utah Lake in Vineyard and has been used for decades as a party spot for local youth. For years, local residents held large drinking parties and bonfires on the beach, which also served as a dumping ground.

"It's just been a mess," he said. "People would take sofas down there and dump them. And the next week the teenagers would burn them."

Hawker said a new trail was built along the beach as part of the Provo-Jordan River Parkway, segments of which officials have been building in Utah County and other counties since 1982. In Utah County, the trail is almost complete, except for sections around the lake.

In Vineyard, Hawker said a part of the trail was completed in September with six pavilions, each of which also has a picnic table. Significant work was put into cleaning up the trail area where parties had been held in the past. Hawker said 18 inches of sand was removed from the beach because of the large amounts of glass buried there, and enough nails were removed with a metal detector to fill a 55-gallon drum. Even after the massive cleanup, Hawker said it is hard to keep the area clean.

"During the past three months, the kids have gone in there and tried to burn," he said.

Each week, workers have revisited the beach to clean up more nails from pallets burned over the weekend. Even more concerning, Hawker said, are the shotgun shells in the beach and rifle shots through one of the pavilions. Hawker said officials were aware of the parties, but not the shooting.

"We don't want gunfire down on the beach where people are supposed to be picnicking," he said.

Dan Wright, Vineyard town clerk, said the area has always been a rural public property in the past. Before the trail was put in, the activities on the beach were not a problem. However, now that the beach has been cleaned up and furnished with pavilions, Wright said the town wants to enact regulations to help the county keep the beach and park nice.

"It's coming up with rules to better preserve our parks," he said.

The Council voted to add hours of operations for public parks and trails, and prohibit alcohol consumption and fireworks or explosives. Residents will also be unable to make fires or destroy plants and trees in the parks. Although Council members wanted to create laws to help enforcement officers, some were concerned with prohibiting more than was intended, and the ordinance was altered to allow model rockets on the beach and in parks.

The property is owned by the state, and Hawker said Utah County was told the state did not want any burning on the beach whatsoever. When Utah County sheriffs patrolled the beach however, they told officials there is currently no law prohibiting the fires, so there was nothing for them to enforce.

Hawker said the county has been working with Vineyard to come up with rules concerning the beach so the Sheriff's Department will be able to enforce them. The town is happy to have the trail, and Hawker said everyone is welcome to use it if it is done properly.

"We don't mind if they use it, we just don't want the fires and the mess," he said.