More parking space a priority as city of Beaufort addresses parking task force suggestions
More parking spaces are an immediate priority as the city of Beaufort begins addressing suggestions by its parking task force and its free-parking trial ends.
Among the needs discussed is a secure, lighted area for employee parking so employers have more incentive to encourage or mandate employees park elsewhere.
"It's going to take a coordinated effort," said parking task force member Gene Rugala.
The quickest, most cost-effective step would be to reconfigure the marina parking lot, members of City Council said during a work session Tuesday. The parking committee said reworking the marina lot would conservatively produce 40-50 additional spaces, enough to offer reserved spaces for downtown employees.
Employee parking became an issue during the committee's study, when it found employees were, at times, clogging prime spaces in front of businesses. The spaces were valued by the task force at $37.50 an hour.
The city also appears ready to issue a request for qualifications on a parking garage and to secure the old Bank of America parking lot in an effort to immediately boost its number or spaces.
A longer-term goal would be a transit system to make the garage and distant lot more desirable.
A trial of free two-hour parking that began in December ended Tuesday after the task force recommended it not be extended. Paid parking will resume at its previous hours -- 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. -- and previous rates -- $1 an hour with a three-hour limit on Bay Street and 50 cents an hour for eight-hour spaces farther away.
Council and staff also appeared behind moving paid parking hours to 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. and restructuring meter limits to two hours, four hours and eight hours.
The task force recommended the paid hours stay the same, but only because they didn't want to pile on the changes, group member Pete Palmer said.
The shorter time creates desired turnover on Bay Street, freeing up spaces. Downtown merchants think the later start to paid parking could encourage local residents into town during otherwise slower morning hours.
Parking tickets are expected remain $10.
Repeat offenders could find their car booted if they have at least three outstanding tickets and are preparing to receive a fourth.
"Tomorrow, we're going to start booting," city manager Bill Prokop said Tuesday. "We're going to do the enforcement we always said we were going to do."
The parking task force met over the course of four months.
The group said 500 additional spaces eventually would be needed and that the city should modify its development ordinance to require parking in any new development downtown.
A parking committee headed by city staff member Linda Roper is planned to address future parking issues.
Follow reporter Stephen Fastenau at twitter.com/IPBG_Stephen.
Related content
- Panel: Beaufort should stop offering free parking, June 11, 2015
- Beaufort's free parking concerns task force, May 21, 2015
- Beaufort City Council approves two-hour free parking extension, Dec. 24, 2014
This story was originally published June 30, 2015 at 8:50 AM with the headline "More parking space a priority as city of Beaufort addresses parking task force suggestions."