There are no easy solutions to the parking and access problems at Barrington Town Beach. Had town leaders developed a long-range vision a generation ago, they might have acquired a nearby lot or two for overflow parking and facilities.

Because of the sky-high values for waterfront properties, the idea seems far-fetched today, but a few decades ago, many of the lots around that area, including beach-facing properties, were still open and undeveloped and available for a fraction of what they cost today.

That is no longer the case. The neighborhood surrounding the beach is now fully developed, with single-family homes consuming every available space. The town beach area is small, cramped and still lacks adequate parking for peak demand on the most welcoming of weekend, summer days.

The town’s closest properties also provide no easy solutions. Nayatt Elementary School is a mile away, with a steep hill between the school and the beach. The town-owned, former Carmelite monastery property is closer, but there are plans to carve that up into more house lots and clustered townhouses.

Still, the town must try to do something to make this wonderful resource available to more residents, more often. Here are a few obvious, as well as out-of-the-box, solutions …

• Lock the beach gate on weekend or holiday mornings, before the beach officially opens. That would prevent people from arriving early, paying nothing, and consuming a parking spot all day.

• Encourage and facilitate alternate methods of travel to the beach. Create a bike lane that runs along Bay Road, Chachapacasset Road and Lorraine Street, directing cyclists (or pedestrians or scooter-riders, etc.) along a safe path and away from the more heavily trafficked beach entrance, so they can enter the beach area from its eastern end.

• On weekends, provide a golf cart shuttle for Barrington residents to park at Nayatt School and get a ride to the beach. Other than the purchase of the shuttle, the cost for labor would be minimal.

• Begin talking to the Rhode Island School of Design about how to create limited public access to the spectacular Tillinghast Estate. Located just west of the town beach, this estate has a long coastline, vast parking areas, light usage and tax-free status. Weekend beach access for Barrington residents would be a wonderful “payment-in-lieu-of taxes.”

There are no easy solutions, but there may be creative ones. It’s good that town leaders are seeking them.