By Rich Pollack
Twice a month, for the last several years, Richard Siegel and members of his church group have been going to the Holiday Inn in Highland Beach after Tuesday morning Mass to share breakfast and a pretty view of the ocean.
But early last month Siegel got a few surprises along with his coffee and toast when he went to pull into the hotel.
He discovered that the entrance on State Road A1A to the hotel he was used to driving into had been converted into an exit, requiring him to make a U-turn. He also found that the hotel had changed its name to the Delray Sands Resort on Highland Beach.
Then he learned that he could no longer park his car himself, but instead had to pay $3 for valet parking.
“What they’ve done with the parking is absolutely atrocious,” Siegel said. “They’ve just made a mess of it.”
Representatives of Ocean Properties LLC, the company that owns the hotel, declined to discuss complaints about the parking. Town officials, however, said the hotel’s management is aware of the concerns and has been addressing them.
“It’s a very correctable situation,” said Town Commissioner Lou Stern. “This will end up settling down.”
Stern says the hotel decided to go to a valet-only parking system — with parking costing $3 during the day, $4 at night and $5 for special occasions — because parking was being abused by non-hotel guests who were not using the hotel facilities.
"Parking was a problem and they wanted to resolve it,” he said.
In addition, Stern said, the hotel — built in 1971 and the only commercial property in the small coastal town — is transitioning from a Holiday Inn to a more upscale beach-front resort, where mandatory valet parking is not uncommon.
Town officials said they have been in contact with hotel management and were told plans are in the works to resolve problems stemming from the revamping of the entrance and exits on A1A. Some of the plans, however, require permits, which must be applied for and processed.
The day after a letter was sent to Highland Beach Mayor Bernard Featherman by residents of a neighboring condominium complaining about the traffic problems, hotel representatives and condominium representatives met to resolve issues.
“It’s all under control now,” said Pam Keely, property manager at the Highland Place Condominium. “I think people are starting to get used to the traffic pattern, so it is one thousand percent better.”
Keely said a big part of the problem was that people wanting to avoid the valet fee were parking on the grass swale in front of the hotel, blocking visibility for those leaving the condo parking lot.
To address that issue, the hotel temporarily placed an attendant near the road to provide parking instructions.
While some of the congestion problems are evaporating, Siegel said he and his church group are discussing options in light of the parking changes at the hotel.
“We’re looking at either car-pooling or looking for another place to meet,” he said.
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