News

By Angie Francalancia

The beach is timeless, forever lapped by waves and shaped by shifting sands.
Not so the parking meter, a ticking intrusion into the untroubled landscape that is a day at the beach.
 Parking meters or daily fees are the norm at city beaches up and down the east coast, and as cities wrestle with budget shortfalls, they’re making sure to capture money from every potential spot. More parking meters are going in at previously free spots in Boca Raton, and fees are going up at beachside meters in Lake Worth — coincidentally, the cities with the largest area beaches. Fees rose earlier this year at beachside meters on Palm Beach as well.
“I think if you look up and down there are very few places where you can park at the beach for free. There should be some recognition that it does cost money to have a beach,” said Boca Raton Assistant City Manager Mike Woika.
At city beaches between Palm Beach and Boca Raton there are 3,780 parking spots — including 400 spaces along or adjacent to A1A in Delray Beach — according to city officials.
Palm Beach County’s parks add an additional 597 spaces. At all but 377 of those spaces — those in the county’s three small parks in Ocean Ridge and Gulf Stream — beach patrons will pay to play on the sand.
Boca Raton is installing 202 meters to four locations where beach parking previously was free: the pavilion at Palmetto Park; Red Reef Park West; and two spots on the west side of A1A where beach lovers previously could park and walk across the street to the sand: Spanish River Boulevard and East Palmetto Park Road. The rate will be $1.50 an hour, one of the lower meter rates along the coast. But most of these spaces are a little farther or time-limited compared with Boca Raton’s other beachside parking lots.
At Red Reef Park and Spanish River Park there are 1,152 parking spaces, but a day at the beach  — or any fraction of a day — costs $18 on the weekends.
To save money, Spanish River Park is closed Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Smaller South Beach Park costs $17 a day on the weekends. All are a dollar cheaper on weekdays.
Lake Worth Beach is installing new meters at its beach with 688 parking spaces. The new meters, like the new ones in Boca, allow people to pay with coins or credit cards, potentially alleviating the hassle of leaving the sand to feed the meter. The rates are going up from $1.50 to $2 an hour.
At the county’s R.G. Kreusler Park adjacent to Lake Worth Beach, the parking rates will rise to $2 an hour, matching Lake Worth’s rates in October, said Dave Lill, aquatics director.
But perhaps the biggest deterrent to beach goers is the long-planned reconstruction of the Lake Worth Casino and strip of retail shops that will cause most of the parking lot to be unavailable.
“We’ll have a rotation of parking spots open for the next few months,” said Lake Worth Public Services Director Joseph Kroll. Construction is expected to start this month, and last 11 months.  “I’ve got to keep a minimum of 40 percent open at all times, so that’s about 200.”
Even with the diminished number of slots, Lake Worth expects to raise an additional $116,000 annually from the beach parking area, helping the city to keep its staff of lifeguards.
Keeping lifeguards on the beaches was cited as the reason Palm Beach raised its parking fees in October from $2 an hour to $5 an hour at both midtown and Phipps Park.
But seven months after the meter fees rose, Palm Beach is grappling with the avoidance efforts — a situation Boca Raton may face as well.
“We know regular beach goers are avoiding as best they can the $5 beach charge, and parking in both legal and non-legal parking spots to avoid the charge,” said Palm Beach Deputy Town Manager Tom Bradford.
But with revenue projections from the increased fees hitting their mark, town officials surmise that tourists are willing to pay it.
“I’m sure we’ll see that, too, because we have a lot of neighborhoods and condos along A1A,” said Woika of Boca Raton. “We’re going to be doing more patrolling of neighborhoods to make sure beach parking is not [occurring] in residential areas.”
As the summer season heats up, with fewer available spots and higher fees at previously free ones, beach lovers may go hunting new slices of paradise.       

The beachside shuffle
These area beaches are undergoing changes at the meters or in the lots:

Palm Beach: Raised hourly rate at beach parking meters from $2 an hour to $5 an hour on Oct. 5.

Lake Worth: Raising hourly rates from $1.50 to $2, replacing older style meters to meters that allow payments via coins, credit cards or prepaid “smart” cards and allows beach goers to pay via mobile phones. Construction at Lake Worth Beach will decrease available spaces to about 40 percent for the next 11 months.

Boca Raton: Adding parking meters at 202 previously free parking spots at the pavilion at Palmetto Park, at Red Reef Park West off A1A, Spanish River Boulevard and Palmetto Park Road. Metered parking will be $1.50 an hour. Visitors can pay by credit card as well as with coins.