By Jane Musgrave
Palm Beach County residents will have to get annual passes to park for free at 12 county parks, including ones in Gulf Stream, Ocean Ridge and Boynton Beach.
The passes will allow county residents to avoid a $4-an-hour parking fee that will be collected beginning Oct. 1.
While the details are still being worked out, County Administrator Joe Abruzzo said the passes will be easy to get. But, he said, without them county residents will have to pay to park or risk getting tickets.
Parks in the southern part of the county where passes will be needed are: Ocean Inlet Park in Boynton Beach, Ocean Ridge Hammock Park in Ocean Ridge and Gulfstream Park in the County Pocket.
The passes won’t be good at the county’s South Inlet Park in Boca Raton and R.G. Kreusler Park near Lake Worth Beach, which both have had parking fees in place for decades.
The annual parking passes were approved after county residents flooded Commissioner Maria Marino with emails, blasting the commission’s plans to make them pay to go to the beach.
Marino was the target of their ire because she pushed for the parking fee. While other commissioners said the fees were unfair to cash-strapped county residents, they bowed to her wishes because seven of the 12 beachfront parks are in her north county district.
On July 14, Marino reversed course, saying the 2,000 emails she received convinced her that county residents should continue to enjoy county beachfront parks for free.
“Our residents have spoken,” Marino said, urging the commission not to charge county residents to park.
The commission had suggested giving county residents a 20% discount, which would have shaved 80 cents off the hourly rate. But, Marino conceded, that concession wasn’t enough.
The parking fee was first proposed to help the commission balance its proposed $2.2 billion spending plan. If all beachgoers were charged $4 an hour, it would have generated $10 million annually. After the commission agreed to give county residents a discount, that amount dropped to $7 million.
By only charging out-of-county residents, the county will pocket about $3 million, Abruzzo said. He said he would take $4 million out of the county’s emergency fund to make up the shortfall.
The county years ago imposed parking fees at South Inlet Park in Boca Raton and R.G. Kreusler Park, which is adjacent to Lake Worth Beach Park.
Boca and Lake Worth Beach officials demanded it. They worried that revenues at their nearby parks would plummet if beachgoers could park at the county parks for free.
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