Contact Palm Beach Business.com by phone: 561 450-8258. By email.
Delray takes slow approach to downtown parking meters
By Palm Beach Business.com
DELRAY BEACH — Delray Beach city commissioners didn’t quite take the idea of installing parking meters in the downtown off the table Tuesday evening. But let’s just say the proposal is closer to the edge of the table than it is the center.
Commissioners heard a detailed presentation of a plan to install parking meters along Atlantic Avenue and elsewhere in the downtown as a means of alleviating the parking shortage that exists there. The hope is that by charging higher rates in the heart of the downtown, patrons would be more willing to find cheaper parking in the city’s garages and in outlying lots.
But during Tuesday’s workshop meeting, it was clear that there was no clear consensus among commissioners whether implement the plan or abandon it for a yet-to-be drafted alternative. It was clear, however, that there was little enthusiasm for the staff.
As is, parking in the downtown is generally free east of the Intracoastal Waterway. The two municipal garages do charge on weekends and during specials events, but street parking and city lots are fee 24/7.
The fear is that by going to paid parking, the city might drive away customers for downtown shops and restaurants.
“We’ve got a pretty good thing going,” Commissioner Adam Frankel said of Delray’s downtown. “I think part of that is people don’t have to fumble through their wallets to pay for parking when they come here to dine and to shop.
“Putting up meters is the biggest disincentive we’ve got.”
Frankel said he didn’t oppose meters per se, but the staff-proposed plan was too complicated. Parking on Atlantic would cost $2 an hour, with a two-hour maximum. Parking in the lots would cost a buck an hour, and the time limit would vary between two and eight hours. Parking in the garages would cost 50 cents an hour and there would be no time limit. And things could vary according to season.
He said if commissioners were to adopt meters, the rules and fees would have to be uniform in order to get his support.
Commissioner Al Jacquet went further, saying he opposes meters period. He said they would destroy the fabric that is Delray Beach.
“If we go ahead with this, we’re going to regret it in a few years,” Jacquet said.
On the other hand, Commissioner Angeleta Gray said she could support limited metering — Atlantic Avenue during evening hours — as a compromise but agreed the plan as drafted was far too complex.
The problem the city faces is a shortage of spaces. The goal of the plan would be to create incentives for drivers to park in the garages instead of the streets, because the garages tend to be underused. The problem becomes more severe at night, when the downtown restaurants and clubs come alive.
A partial solution could be using the South County Courthouse garage. It sits empty — and closed — after 6 p.m. and on weekends.
Mayor Woodie McDuffie said he would explore the possibility of reaching an agreement with Palm Beach County officials for use of the garage in off hours.
The second part of the problem is employees and owners of downtown businesses who take up much of the prime parking spaces. Getting those people into the garages would alleviate the problem, but the question is how? As a first step, McDuffie said he would work with the Downtown Development Authority to get a handle on the number of employees involved.
But McDuffie said the city has had three parking studies done over the past 20 years or so and has yet to act on any of them.
“We have a parking problem in the central business district,” McDuffie said, “and we continue to full around with it. We need to move the plan ahead. It needs to be tweaked. It’s confusing I’ll grant you that.”
