Palm Beach County residents won’t have to check their wallets before every trip to the beach under a new plan that scraps parking fees for residents at all county beaches.
Commissioner Maria Marino, who represents north county, on July 14 directed the county staff to halt proposals that would have required fees for residents’ vehicles at all county beach lots. Many of the beaches that would have imposed fees are in her district, extending from Tequesta through Jupiter and Juno Beach.
Marino’s request came as the board of county commissioners unanimously supported the move at a workshop meeting that day.
“Palm Beach County’s beaches are one of our greatest public assets, and our residents should continue to have free access to the beach parking they have long enjoyed,” Marino wrote in a prepared statement following the meeting, at which she said she had received more than 2,000 emails on the topic, nearly all of them opposed.
“At the same time, it is appropriate to evaluate whether a reasonable parking fee for non-residents can help offset the costs of maintaining these facilities without placing an additional burden on our taxpayers.”
What did Palm Beach County want to charge for beach parking?
Only two county beaches — R.G. Kreusler Park in Palm Beach and South Inlet Park in Boca Raton — now charge parking fees, but all county park beaches would have done so under a plan proposed for the upcoming year’s budget. The proposed fee was $4 an hour and $3.20 for residents, a 20% discount.
The previous plan to charge for parking in county beach lots sparked outrage. More than 5,000 people even signed an online petition against it. In a Palm Beach Post social-media poll of nearly 200 people, about 90% of them said they were against the parking fees.
“$4 an hour to me sounds unreasonable, but $4 per day, or free for residents with a parking permit would seem fair,” wrote Matt Marano, who lives in Singer Island, in an email to The Palm Beach Post. “Plus, who wants to worry about a meter while you’re trying to enjoy a day at the beach!”
County Administrator Joseph Abruzzo said the county would require that residents use a free annual pass to ensure their beach parking at no cost. Details weren’t immediately available, but he said the county would make the pass “extremely easy and accessible” for residents to obtain.
The county will still explore ways to charge nonresidents for parking at county beaches, he said. The revenue from beach parking fees is intended to help balance the county’s overall budget.
Abruzzo said that giving residents free beach parking would set the county’s preliminary budget proposal “out of whack” between about $2 million and $4 million. The county would not put as much money into reserves to cover the cost, he said.
“I would say from the more than almost 2,000 emails I’ve gotten on this, our residents have spoken,” Marino said. “We still want our residents to come to our beaches, but this is something that they are used to having, so I would appreciate it if we could keep it that way for them.”
Maya Washburn is a Trending News Reporter for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Free beach parking to stay in Palm Beach County as fee plan dropped
Reporting by Maya Washburn, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Maya Washburn, Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY Network
