Plans to dramatically reduce parking around Rancho Palos Verdes’ Del Cerro Park this summer — and give priority to local residents — have prompted a backlash from critics who say the affluent community wants to drive away out-of-towners.

But neighbors insist the changes are a matter of public safety, not localism.

The City Council’s decision last week to create permit-only parking in three neighborhoods around Del Cerro Park and the entrance to the increasingly popular Portuguese Bend Reserve, and prohibit parking on one side of Crenshaw Boulevard, came as a surprise to hikers.

“Where are people going to park?” asked Chelsea Giachello, who came from Long Beach with Carlos Duarte to hike the trails they found on Google Maps.

“Can’t they find an alternative?” Duarte said.

Brian Ohlaug, a Harbor City resident who has been hiking at the reserve for years, called the changes “huge news.”

“I don’t like it at all,” Ohlaug said. “I think it’s a bunch of rich people getting petty.”

Ohlaug’s sentiment was shared by many commenters online, who accused the neighborhood of NIMBYism.

“Give me a break, this is a public place for the public, not only the residents,” one user wrote.

Others brought up the history of localism among surfers at Lunada Bay, which made headlines last month when threats were captured on hidden camera by The Guardian newspaper.

But homeowners who live near the reserve say the greater public has misconceptions.

“Please know that the people who live near the trails aren’t ‘irked’ by out-of towners. Visitors to the trails are fine, the set-up for the cars is not,” wrote one commenter, with the username DC Mom.

Kathy Edgerton, a board member of the Del Cerro Homeowners Association, believes the issue of public safety has been lost in the debate.

“Our biggest issue on Crenshaw is when people are parked on both sides of the street and open their doors,” Edgerton said. “Drivers getting in and out of the neighborhood have to stop when people dart into the street. We welcome people to the preserve and we don’t want to keep them out. We want to share this asset. We have to make sure the circumstances are safe.”

Edgerton said eliminating parking on the north side of Crenshaw Boulevard between Seacrest Road and Valley View Road — a suggestion of the city’s traffic engineer that will cut the number of spaces in half to 40 — isn’t about cracking down on the influx of hikers, but widening the street.

The hiking spot has become so popular in recent years, thanks to social media, that vehicles regularly line Crenshaw Boulevard and spill onto side streets.

Edgerton said she has seen people park in front of fire hydrants and witnessed plenty of near misses on Crenshaw Boulevard.

“Graffiti and trash are minor nuisances, but the real issue is trying to have a safe entrance and exit,” she said.

There has not been an increase in traffic collisions in the area, according to Traffic Investigator John Schloegl.

Others warn that restricting parking will only move the same problems to another neighborhood.

“I do worry about some of the unintended consequences — they’re going to park somewhere else,” said Jeff Lewis, a former planning commissioner. Still, Lewis said, “doing nothing wasn’t an option.”

Mayor Jim Knight acknowledged the possibility of another neighborhood coming to the council with the same complaints in the future.

“If we encounter that, we’ll just have to address that, but we have to make it safe and we have to minimize the impact to our residents,” Knight said.

The city is also exploring a proposal from Councilman Brian Campbell to designate 16 parking spots next to Del Cerro Park for city residents only. Public Works Director Michael Throne said research will be done on deed restrictions, since the land was military surplus property.

Knight said he believes giving Rancho Palos Verdes residents preferential parking is fair, since taxpayers pay for the maintenance of the park and many contributed to the city’s acquisition of the reserve 10 years ago.

Rancho Palos Verdes bought 463 acres of land encompassing what would become the Portuguese Bend Reserve for $17 million with help from state and county grant funding and a $4 million donation from the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy. Donors from regional cities, including many Peninsula residents, pitched in to the conservancy’s fundraising effort.

The city then granted a conservation easement to the conservancy.

“The community put a lot of money and time into making it what it is,” said one longtime Del Cerro resident who did not want to be named. “There was talk of it becoming a golf course and if it wasn’t for the local people, we would’ve lost it forever. I don’t feel it is unjust if the people who helped create and support this space have some benefit, but a limited benefit.”

Earlier this year, when the City Council discussed giving Rancho Palos Verdes residents parking fee waivers at Abalone Cove Shoreline Park, California Coastal Commission staff shot down the idea. Visitorship there has also soared in the past few years, due in part to cliff-diving videos on social media, leading the council to raise parking fees as a means of crowd control.