No parking meters for Town Center

Last modified 7/15/2008 - 3:42 pm
Originally created 071608
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By DREW DIXON, Shorelines

NEPTUNE BEACH - City officials are backing off plans to install meters or other parking controls in the Town Center shopping area.

In response to a recent influx of beachgoers and others using the parking lots surrounding the shopping hub along Atlantic Boulevard, City Council members in June had considered adding parking meters or signs limiting people to two hours. But Mayor Dick Brown said Friday parking meters have been ruled out and it's unlikely signs will be posted.

"There was a tremendous amount of activity just as the [beachgoing] season got started," Brown said. "They're tremendously expensive, the new meters, and they're also a maintenance problem being that close to the ocean."

City Manager Jim Jarboe has recommended against meters that would require payment in what are now free parking areas.

Police Chief David Sembach said in June that more people than ever are going to the beach this year. Many of them had been using the Town Center parking spots all day, instead of patrons of the shops and restaurants. Business owners complained to the city.

Then, once the City Council started discussing parking control measures in June, Brown said business owners and residents started contacting the city in opposition.

"I for one am not for parking meters," Strand Street resident Jan Wolke wrote in an e-mail to Brown. "I have never had a major problem finding parking to shop or go to the restaurants. ... I for one do not want to have to pay for parking each time I go to town."

At a July 7 council meeting, weeks after he acknowledged crowds were in a rush to get to the beach, Jarboe said parking demand around Town Center was decreasing.

"It seems to have worked itself out a bit," Jarboe said. "It's not as much of a crisis as it was."

Brown said the consideration of posting signs limiting parking to two hours in the Town Center area seems unrealistic now, since merchants have raised concerns.

Brown's reservations about adding parking controls follow the concerns of some City Council members who said in June that they had been dodging the issue for too long.

"We need to do something," Councilman John Weldon said last month. "We have to realize that this area has to be managed, parking-wise, and we have to take action to do that. We can't just wait for it to turn into a disaster."

Even though parking is an issue, Brown said erecting parking meters or signs would backfire.

"As staff talked to the businesses about what options they saw as doable, short of doing a multi-deck garage, it looked like the fix was going to be worse than the problem," Brown said.

Drew Dixon can also be reached at (904) 249-4947, ext. 6313.