Carolyn DiPaoloCouncil hits pause on system as resident complaints rain down.
Riviera Beach is having so many problems with its new parking payment system that it is temporarily shutting it down.
Eight months after the city started charging for beach parking for the first time at Ocean Walk on Singer Island and the eastern lots in the Marina Village on Broadway, City Council members voted unanimously Wednesday night to call a timeout.
The dramatic move follows complaints to council members and the mayor from residents who say they received parking tickets issued on days they weren’t at the beach, were there only briefly or were legally parked in handicapped spots.
But the final insult arrived recently: The system nailed a City Council member.
“Lo and behold, I received a ticket the other day,” Council Vice Chair Glen Spiritis said at the meeting. He recalled driving through the Ocean Walk parking lot on May 17 with his wife, Jo-Ann, as he often does, to greet the police officers on duty.
“We don’t stop the car,” he said. “We just roll down the window and say hello.”
In the mail with the ticket issued to Spiritis: photos of his car entering and leaving the parking lot. But no timestamp, he said.
Drivers are probably receiving beach parking tickets and paying them even if they didn’t deserve a fine, he said.
Council Chair Bruce Guyton agreed, “We need to stop issuing citations until we can gain control of this process and make sure it’s accurate,” he said. “And ensure that it is also user-friendly.”
Mayor Doug Lawson said he is hearing from residents with handicapped parking stickers who are being charged for parking. Florida law allows them to park in a city lot for free, he noted.
“We’re in violation of Florida statute,” he said.
Riviera Beach started charging for parking in October and hired West Palm Beach-based One Parking to manage the automated operation.
For most of the parking spots, the first two hours are free. After that, motorists are charged by the hour plus a 79-cent fee.
Riviera Beach residents can buy an annual pass for $50.
Interim City Manager Bill Wilkins told council members he welcomes the parking fee pause “so we can end the hostilities down there.” He did not elaborate.
The council approved an ordinance two years ago that created the waterfront parking system as part of an overhaul of parking policies. The city spent years studying best practices, including how Lake Worth Beach and Delray Beach manage their beach parking.
When council members approved the parking fees at a meeting last year, Guyton called it a difficult decision but one that would move the city forward.
Riviera Beach leaders expected the parking fees to generate as much as $500,000 a year.
At Council Member KaShamba Miller-Anderson’s urging, the council will receive regular updates on efforts to address the parking problems. “Putting it on pause and not having any follow-up. It will be gone,” she said. “The next thing you know, a whole year will have gone by, and nobody will remember it.”
