The Current Sitch
Last Tuesday (10/11) Council voted 4-1 to approve a set of new parking rules for 2023. I was the dissenting vote. Not that I’m opposed to all of the changes, but I felt that we weren’t ready to vote on a complete policy for 2023. Why? Because we still don’t have all the data! The 3rd Quarter (July, August and September) are the busiest months of the year. It’s important to know how we’re performing before we set policy for 2023.
Plus, there’s still discussion about OTB passes, Kure Beach passes, free winter parking, protecting our residents and parking in the right-of-way. All of which affect our total policy. We shouldn’t be going through rules one at a time without considering the policy as a whole.
But that’s the road we started down. Therefore, I am offering the Hoffer Plan. This is exactly what I think we should do, and I will present it to Council for a vote. It’s later in the article, but first I’d like you to read this stuff:
The Parking Committee Recommendations
A temporary committee was formed to study the parking issues. It was made up of the Chairs of each standing town committee. So these people have not only been serving the town, but they’ve also been selected by their peers to be leaders. The Committee was represented by business owners, retirees and working parents… a fine cross-section of our community if you ask me. I can’t imagine a more logical way to form such a committee. Their recommendations carried a lot of weight with us all.
The committee made 12 recommendations.
(Bold text is the recommendation, italics is my commentary.)
- Protect the residential zones west of 3rd Street
This is a much bigger deal than I realized. People are parking further and further from downtown or the beach in an effort to find free parking. They park in the right-of-way (that grassy area between the sidewalk and the road.)
It may be public property, but the homeowner maintains it, uses it for their own parking and doesn’t appreciate it being an unofficial parking lot. I get that. I also think that the lack of OTB passes is making the issue worse.
Council adopted a plan to create a residential zone west of 3rd Street (or west of Swordfish in Wilmington Beach) where you can only park in the right-of-way if you have a parking pass. The police won’t automatically enforce it but will instead reply to complaints. (More on this down below.) - Improve handicap parking options
A no-brainer. We all agree. Staff has been instructed to git-r-dun. - Add clear signage distinguishing between town and private lots
Also a no-brainer. We also agree that wayfinding signage could help here too. i.e. signs pointing to where the public lots are. Staff has been instructed to git-r-dun. - Work with Kure Beach to offer reciprocal parking passes.
Nothing has been adopted, but it appears that the deal would be us selling them $40 passes and them selling us $20 passes. I think this would be essentially giving them away and that this policy can’t be separated from OTB pass policy. Recommendation # 12. (More on this down below.) - Take no action on creating different parking zones.
This means offering different prices at different lots. The further from the beach, the cheaper the cost. We agree that this would be too confusing. - Change the 2-hour parking on Cape Fear Blvd west of Lake Park to daily parking
A minor adjustment that we agree on. This change has been adopted. - Offer discounts to people who pay fines promptly
Yes! This change has been adopted. Parking tickets now start at $100, but are $50 if paid within 24 hours or $75 if paid within 48 hours. The fines increase, but only if unpaid after 30 days (vs 7 days in the old system.) - Reduce the number of tickets for minor infractions.
Yes! This change has been adopted. If you paid for parking, but did something wrong (took up 2 spaces, used a non-designated spot, hanging over the line, etc…) it’s now a $25 fine, but only $12.50 if paid within 48 hours. - Enforce our current parking regulations for right-of-way parking.
There are already regulations that govern parking in the right-of-way. Enforce them where necessary. Refer to recommendation # 1. (More on this down below.) - Free parking in January & February.
Agreed upon and approved. This change has been adopted. - Free parking in December.
Council did not approve this. I think we should. (More on this down below.) - Do not offer OTB passes.
No action taken, which means that the policy remains as is. But we’re still preparing to sell $40 passes to Kure Beach residents? I disagree. (More on this down below.) - A bonus change
Council also voted to start parking enforcement at 9am (vs 8am in the old system.) A helpful change for surfers and beach walkers.
The Hoffer Plan
I agree with many of the changes already made. But I’ll add a few:
** Disclaimer. I still haven’t seen the complete 2022 3rd Quarter data. This plan is based on what I think it will be. A major factor is capacity. How full were the lots? I need to know. If the numbers are different from my expectations, then this is subject to change. **
- Free parking in December… It’s the holidays for crying out loud! We have never charged for parking in December and I don’t think we should start now. Free winter parking, December – February
- Regular price in November… I struggled with this one. I hate to charge full price ($5/hr or $25/day) vs discounted price ($2/hr or $10/day) But the discount was when we were planning on charging year-round. With December – February free, the discount would have only applied to one month. Too confusing.
- Peak rate in summer… From Memorial Day to Labor Day we raise the rates to $5/hr or $40/day.
- Offer season passes again. I have a friend who lives in Snow’s Cut Crossing (OTB) and another who lives on J Avenue in Kure Beach. Guess who’s closer to the Boardwalk? Yep, the OTB guy. We should be INclusive… not EXclusive. We also need to consider the service providers who come to downtown often. The realtors, HVAC techs, food reps, consultants… these people don’t just live in Kure Beach.
Therefore, no special deals for Kure Beach. They can buy a pass just like everyone else.
In 2021 we sold 654 nonresident passes at $175 each. How many would we sell to Kure Beach at $40 each? 3-400? It doesn’t make sense. Let’s go back to old way, but keep the volume down.
$225 each
For sale Jan 1 – Feb 15
One pass per person
Must purchase in person
Black out dates on the holiday weekends (Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day)
Protecting the Neighborhoods
The current plan creates a residential zone west of 3rd Street (or west of Swordfish in Wilmington Beach) where you can only park in the right-of-way if you have a parking pass. The police won’t automatically enforce it, but will instead reply to complaints. Oh, and my favorite… it will require more signs (full sarcasm included.)
I think we should allow people to protect their spot. A well-placed rock or reflector pole goes a long way. I believe that there’s a partnership between the property owner and the town. The property owner should keep their little piece of right-of-way nice and in exchange they should get some autonomy over it. No – you shouldn’t plant trees or install a fence, but bushes, a garden or some big rocks should be allowed.
That being said, the rule passed, so now it’s law. I won’t try to undermine it.
Next Step
So there you have it… the Hoffer plan.
I believe this to be the most reasonable, inclusive and equitable plan. It protects the taxpayers (we’re not just giving our valuable resource away), it’s friendly to our neighbors (they have better options) and it’s good for our businesses (it promotes more customers in the off-season.) Now we need to make it consistent and predictable. Let’s settle in and stay with the program. 2022 was an over-correction and this change brings us back to the center. I’m not mad, I think they made what they thought was the best decision at the time. Move on.
Unless new information arises, I will present this to Council at our November 9 meeting. And we’ll see what happens.