This morning (Nov 7, 2024) Town Council held a special meeting to approve the contract with the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) for beach renourishment this winter. Any contracts the town enters into must be voted on by Town Council. Why didn’t we just wait until next week at our regularly scheduled meeting? … because the Corps needs as much time as possible to mobilize for the project and we’re running a bit late due to recent (ahem) complications.
As you may recall, we had to change our parking policy to comply with language in the contract that says parking must be “open and available to all on equal terms.”
That language is not new. It’s been in every renourishment contract we’ve ever entered in to. It’s the interpretation of the language that is new. By using a formula that’s difficult to follow, they have determined that we must provide 767 parking spaces for all to use. We can charge for parking, but town residents must pay the same rate as everyone else. If we sell a parking permit, we must also sell that permit to everyone else for the same price. We can sell a special parking permit to town residents, but it can’t be valid in any of the 767 spaces.
And that’s where we are today. I have my personal ideas on how we should move forward, but like any good cooking blog, you’ll have to read (or scroll) to the bottom to see my recipe. First…
Why Is Everything So Hard?
Re-litigating this parking thing has me annoyed. I never wanted to do this! Why does everything around here feel like pulling teeth? And why must we argue?
I’ll tell you why, because Carolina Beach is a very complicated little town. Beware when people say “Up in Concord, we just do it this way…” It ain’t so simple here. We deal with many external complicating factors. A great example being our parking. How many other communities have to change their parking policy because of a claus in a US Army Corps of Engineers contract?
Here’s more:
Want a crosswalk at Spartanburg? NCDOT has to get involved. Expand Mike Chappel Park? The US Army owns that land. Build a new water tower? Expand our water treatment plant? US Army. US Army.
How about running a beach rake to pick up litter? Great idea! But don’t forget that Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) regulations only allow it twice per year because of nesting turtles.
Want to pave Snow’s Cut Trail? FUHGETTABOUTIT! The US Army Corps of Engineers owns that land. The multi-use path on St. Joseph had to stop before the turn at Lewis Drive. Why? Coastal wetlands!
Clean the big drainage ditch? That’s classified as “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) and subject to federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (I’m exhausted just typing that.)
Add more mooring balls in the harbor? Sure, but the State of North Carolina has a say. Improve the crossing at Harper and Dow Road? Change the speed limit on Ocean Blvd? NCDOT, NCDOT. Get rid of a derelict boat? It might be in waters governed by New Hanover County.
Build new bathrooms at the Boardwalk? CAMA again. And don’t forget that oceanfront structures have to be built for extreme wind and corrosion factors.
Many of these agencies offer grants and we take advantage of them all the time. But they always come with strings attached and the projects move slowly. (Think Ocean Blvd sidewalk and St. Joseph St multi-use path.)
Here’s a good example of paralysis … there’s a spot along the water on Florida Ave near Canal Drive that floods during king tides. A bulkhead there would serve our citizens well. But the next door neighbor doesn’t want it and neither does the property owner.
We’re willing to pay for it, so maybe we can force the issue? Nope. That would require enabling legislation from the State Legislature. But even if we got the enabling legislation (which some people would fight, because… I don’t know, they just would.) CAMA might not allow it. It’s enough to drive you crazy.
And then there are the internal factors. We have a population of 6,500, but also many 2nd home owners who consider themselves locals (as do I.) We balloon up to 40,000 in the summer. Well, you have to maintain police, fire and utilities for the maximum population, not the minimum. And beach towns attract a rough crowd sometimes. The drug dealers, partiers, thieves and scumbags show up in force.
Don’t forget the competing interests. Are you a business owner that wants lots of visitors? Or a retiree that wants it to be quiet? Maybe you’re raising a family. Or you’re a part-timer. Maybe you have an e-bike. Maybe you hate e-bikes. Maybe you’re a home builder. Maybe you’re an environmentalist.
With every decision I make I consider everyone’s wishes, but it’s tough to please them all. And when people are unhappy… yep, they go to social media. Facebook can elevate anyone’s voice and that’s a good thing, but it can also needlessly get people riled up.
So what’s to be done? Just keep trying, keep moving forward. Find a way to offer people options. Start the projects, and stay the course until they get finished. Keep looking for solutions to vexing problems.
Back To Parking
When making decisions like these, I start with what is most important. Keeping a good relationship with the Army Corps (and therefore our beach renourishment) is paramount. Therefore, we should make our decisions with these 4 points in mind:
- We will respect the Army Corps’ interpretation as it’s written.
- We will adhere to the spirit of the interpretation.
- We will not try to be cute and work around the rules.
- We will keep the Army Corps’ apprised of any changes we make.
Another important thing… our citizens should be able to park where they want without paying hourly rates. What’s the point of having all these oceanfront lots if my pass doesn’t work at them? A surfer on a golf cart should be able to go where they want without carrying their wallet to pay for parking.
Another important thing… our citizens should have the option to buy an inexpensive parking pass. If you’re just trying to grab a coffee at Malama, there should be a pass for you.
Therefore, I propose that we sell annual, unlimited parking passes. Which means that anyone, anywhere can buy the same pass for the same price. (Welcome back Monkey Junction friends.) I’m not sure about the price point.
I also propose that we sell limited, less expensive parking passes to CB citizens only. (The Malama Pass.) Since we sold local passes for $40, and now they’ll be limited, I suspect about $25 seems fair.
As for my 4 rules, the Army Corps allows us to sell limited passes, and they’re allowing Kure Beach to sell unlimited passes as long as anyone, anywhere can buy them too. So I don’t see why this policy will be a problem.
Of course, my fellow Council members, town staff and the parking company may feel differently. Let the games begin.
Grateful for your service and support!
Well said, its hard because as a “local” i do feel we should get some special benefits as we pay more to live here. Also, I pay to park if i go OTB in Wrightsville or downtown. I do understand people just OTB wanting a pass. I also understand businesses wanting more peolpe to be able to come and enjoy our island. Its a hard balance and i appreciate your willingness to try to see all sides. Not an easy issue. Thanks Mike!
I like the idea of $25 per parking pass for locals. If the parking pass gets much more expensive, I would like to have transferable “hanger” type stickers for households with 2 or less drivers, that have more than 2 vehicles. I hate having to buy 4 passes when we have only 2 drivers.
Sounds very reasonable and a plausible remedy to the situation. Quite a few of the newer residents have no idea of how many
entities are involved Thanks for taxing your brain and coming up with a reasonable answer!
I support the proposal for the unlimited passes. I am a CB resident so I’ll be getting a worse deal than last year, while non-residents get a better deal. That’s the way the biscotti crumbles. However, I see people proposing that passes are issued per household, which I strongly oppose, as this would lead to single car households subsidizing households with more cars, which is unfair. Pay per car, which translates into per space. I would be in an uproar if someone OTB would be half or less per car than I pay, and the money from parking is needed for all those things you mentioned, which those larger households have more impact on.
The limited use resident passes would still be overpriced, in my opinion, since the biggest value of passes is to visit the beach. Charging $25 implies that those limited options are worth more than half the value of last year’ options. I think $20 is a better price to reflect the change in access.
On another note: If you change the pay time period to end at 7 pm instead of 8 pm, this will allow volunteers who sit at sea turtle nests to access parking without paying.
Thanks for the explanation and for having a website that is accessible and displays well on mobile devices. Please ask the town web people to stop using “click here” and “here” as links, and to use meaningful text. Making CB more accessible one action at a time.
https://uctechnews.ucop.edu/no-more-click-here-why-descriptive-link-text-is-important/
Mike, thanks for all you do on the council. Also, providing some of the complexities of running a beach town is good information. I took a look at the 2024/25 budget for parking lots – $1.7M, parking spaces – $800K, and parking passes – $305K. (NOTE: these dollar projections were made before the town found out about the parking limit required by Corp of Engineers) Have you asked the parking company what the new numbers would be if 1) we sell passes to everyone and 2) we don’t sell passes to anyone? Since parking is a big part of the town income, if it goes way down, the money will need to be collected through some other revenue stream (probably property taxes). The last time I heard a number for raising property taxes by .01 per $100, that would collect about $400K. So, if the town loses $1.2M in parking collections (just an example), someone with a property valued at $500K would pay an additional $150 in town taxes if the town made up for the lost parking revenue with property taxes. Maybe not selling passes to anyone, since we can’t discriminate, would benefit the residents the most.
Thanks for reading. The conversation is just beginning and your questions will be asked. Your numbers are accurate regarding tax rates vs revenue, but I think it’s safe to say that we wouldn’t leave $1.2 million off the table. (That’s basically saying that we’d lose ALL revenue.) Trust me when I say that I’m thinking of you as too.