Palm Beach County commissioners have abandoned plans to charge county residents to park at 12 beachfront parks.
The decision came late Tuesday after Commissioner Maria Marino said she received more than 2,000 emails from county residents who were outraged that they would be charged $3.20 an hour to park at beaches from Gulf Stream to Tequesta.
“Our residents have spoken,” Marino told her fellow commissioners late Tuesday. “We still want our residents to come to our beaches. This is something they’re used to having. So I’d appreciate it if we’d keep it that way.”
Beachgoers who don’t live in the county, however, don’t deserve to park for free, she said. They should be charged $4 an hour. That’s the amount all beachgoers were to be charged before commissioners decided to give county residents a 20% parking discount in hopes of making the fee more palatable.
Annual parking passes planned
Anticipating commissioners would support Marino’s request, County Administrator Joe Abruzzo said county staff decided to offer annual parking passes to county residents. The passes, he said, would be easy to get, but residents would have to request them.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the passes would be distributed or what proof of county residency would be required. The parking fees won’t go into effect until Oct. 1, the start of the county’s new fiscal year.
The parking fees were initially projected to generate $10 million annually to fill gaps in the county’s $2.2 billion budget. After commissioners decided to offer residents a discount that amount dropped to $7 million.
Now that only out-of-county residents would be charged, revenues would drop to an estimated $3 million, Abruzzo said. To cover the shortfall, $4 million would be moved from county reserves, its fund for emergencies, into the county’s operating budget, Abruzzo said.
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Commissioner Joel Flores praised Marino for changing her mind on Tuesday at the end of a marathon County Commission meeting. He and Commissioners Gregg Weiss and Bobby Powell argued that going to the beach is one of the few affordable outings cash-strapped residents can enjoy.
“I’m glad you came around on this,” Flores told Marino.
Commissioners had bowed to Marino’s wishes because seven of the parks affected are in her district. As recently as last week, she gave full-throated support to the proposed parking fees.
“The cars that are parking there don’t have Florida plates,” she said on July 7 of complaints she received, particularly during winter months. “I don’t believe that the folks who don’t live here should park for free. Too many nonresidents are parking at our beaches and that makes it difficult for our residents to park at our beaches. It needs to be put in place for the protection of our residents.”
The onslaught of emails persuaded her that county residents didn’t think the parking fees would protect them.
Parks in Marino’s district where county residents would need parking passes are: Coral Cove Park (north) in Tequesta; DuBois, Carlin, Ocean Cay and Jupiter Beach parks in Jupiter; and Juno Beach and Loggerhead parks in Juno Beach. Street parking along State Road A1A near the parks would remain free.
Elsewhere in the county, passes would be needed at Ocean Reef and Phil Foster parks in Riviera Beach, Ocean Inlet Park in Boynton Beach, Ocean Ridge Hammock Park in Ocean Ridge and Gulfstream Park in Gulf Stream.
The county already charges parking fees at R.G. Kreusler Park in Lake Worth and South Inlet Park in Boca Raton.
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
