Town holds second focus group to discuss potential parking regulations

The second of three focus groups organized by a Town Council committee studying parking issues met  recently to provide feedback.

The town's Business & Administration Committee held a Zoom-based community input session on Jan. 7 to discuss current and potential parking regulations in the Royal Poinciana Way Business Area, which consists of all east-west and north-south commercial or quasi-commercial roads between Atlantic Avenue and Royal Poinciana Way. 

It is one of three business districts where the town is considering a conversion from free to paid parking.

The others are Worth, Peruvian and Hammon avenues; and the Greater South County Road corridor from Seminole Avenue to Hammon Avenue. 

The town also is looking into allowing commercial property owners to lease excess parking spaces to other businesses that need those spaces.

The Business & Administration Committee announced in November that it would hold sessions with focus groups from the three business districts.

The first session addressing the County Road corridor was held Dec. 11, and the final session for the Worth Avenue Area is scheduled for Jan. 26.

 The meeting was led by Business & Administration Committee chair Lew Crampton and committee member Danielle Hickox Moore, who hoped to seek input from the business community and from members of the public.

The meeting, which drew members of the public as well as a representative from the newly created Main Street Association, was a productive one, Crampton said.

"Our plan is to work very closely with these associations," Crampton said. "Obviously, staff has a strong interest in increasing revenues, and they do a good job at that. Our role as elected officials is to consider the needs of our residents in terms of convenience, and the wants of our businesses in terms of people going into the stores."

Town administrators say paid parking would help increase parking turnover while generating more revenue for the town.

In 2019, the council backed away from converting free spaces on Worth Avenue to $4 an hour after merchants objected that the plan would discourage business. The street’s 132 spaces continue to be free with a two-hour limit.

The town has a mix of free parking, with a one-hour or two-hour limit; paid parking; placard parking, in which parking is prepaid for certain areas of town; and residential permit parking. 

In October, the town began charging $5 an hour for street parking along the ocean block of Sunrise Avenue and the stretch of North County Road between Wells Road and Root Trail.

Parking had been free in the area, which is near a popular unguarded beach where beachgoers have been in conflict with residents.

jwagner@pbpost.com

@JRWagner5