Proposal Expired for 80th Street Parking Meters

STONE HARBOR – Last year, parking meter revenue in Stone Harbor topped $405,000, almost 10 percent higher than what was anticipated in the 2017 budget. 
At its Feb. 6 work session, Stone Harbor Borough Council heard a proposal from Council President Karen Lane to place parking meters along the Stone Harbor 80th Street border with Avalon. 
Lane argued that the meters would raise $31,000 in new revenue which could be dedicated to a special beach replenishment fund to which the budget already allocates $50,000.
Lane and others on the council who supported the measure said that the unmetered spaces are often commandeered by employees of local businesses on the Avalon side of the line or by overflow from nearby condominiums, preventing Stone Harbor residents and visitors from using them for visits to the nearby playground and recreational facilities.
Council members Mantura Gallagher and Joselyn Rich argued that the current unmetered spaces are not serving the purposes for which they were intended because beachgoers and employees occupy them for extended periods of time.
Meters there, they appeared to argue, would serve the same purpose that they serve in the business district, keeping the movement of parked cars fluid so that more individuals can access nearby facilities.
Council member Joan Kramar reminded peers of some of the objections that undermined efforts to place meters in that area in previous years.
“People objected when they faced paying to park to bring children to the playground,” she said.
The major objection, Kramar noted, was that meters would “push overflow into the neighborhoods looking for meter-free parking.”
The issue of the unintended consequence of meters bringing more traffic and parking in purely residential neighborhoods in the area resonated with Raymond Parzych and Charles Krafczek.
Both argued that the downside of more traffic and parking on adjacent residential streets well outweighed any revenue benefit from meters.
“I am reluctant to do anything that promotes people parking in the neighborhoods,” Parzych said.
Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour also spoke in opposition to the proposal. She argued that parking meters are a necessary control in business areas to keep parking near stores continuously turning over.
She noted that the role of meters is not to raise revenue but to aid local businesses.
Davies-Dunhour also noted that where meters are in place the evidence is clear, people do seek out free spaces in the nearby neighborhoods. That would happen at 80th Street as well, she said.
There was particular concern that local restaurants with liquor licenses would release patrons, and employees, in search of their vehicles in early morning hours when residential streets are normally free of noise and visitors.
The lack of consensus favored the status quo. Davies-Dunhour said that there was not enough agreement to move forward with the proposal.
For now, at least, parking will remain unmetered along 80th Street. There was enough support for the idea, however, that it may reappear as it has on occasions in the past.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.