Will Parking Meters Linger Longer?

STONE HARBOR – Stone Harbor has long turned off its parking meters on Oct. 1. With the summer over, meters were no longer required to keep prime parking spaces turning over so businesses could accommodate off-season visitors. 
Those days appear to be at an end. Soon the parking meters may need to stay on for all or a substantial part of the off-season.
Much of the Stone Harbor Borough Council’s work session July 17 was devoted to a discussion of precisely that issue, extending the period for parking meters.
Noting that Cape May recently extended the operation of its metered parking until Dec. 31 on selected streets adjacent to the Washington Street Mall, Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour opened the discussion with reports that business leaders in the Chamber of Commerce were asking the borough’s governing body to do something about shoulder-season parking in the business district.
Much like the experience in Cape May, the problem appeared to be an influx of cars belonging to employees of the businesses as soon as the meters were no longer in effect. 
As the employees, and even some business owners, gobble up prime parking spaces, potential customers are left to find parking further away from the businesses or just not stop to browse or shop.
According to Davies-Dunhour, the problem has worsened as the number of employees working in businesses open during the off-season has increased.
“Consider the added employees from businesses like The Reeds and the movie theater,” she said to council.
Council member Joselyn Rich said that it is frequently impossible to find a parking space on 96th Street even late into the off-season.
Municipal parking lots within two blocks of the central business district offer 331 free spaces once meters shut down for the year.
What council wants is a plan to encourage area employees and business owners to use the lots and leave the prime spaces for customers.
The answer appears to be leaving the meters in the prime business spaces operational for most or even all of the off-season while maintaining free parking in the lots.
The specifics are still being debated, but the outline of the potential plan would have meters remaining in operation on streets from 95th to 98th and from Third to First avenues. Those specifics could change with Rich suggesting that council work with a map of the business area and consider alternatives.
Stone Harbor might follow Cape May’s lead and keep the meters in a demarcated area operational until Dec. 31, or, as some suggested, maintain them in operation for the entire year. 
One clear worry was that council wants to avoid the unintended consequence of pushing cars into nearby residential neighborhoods where street parking is free. 
Davies-Dunhour wants the areas with operating meters to be so circumscribed that the option of going to the free municipal lots is more attractive than finding spaces in nearby neighborhoods.
Council will be getting out maps and markers while the public can expect some resolution to be passed impacting off-season business district parking before this Oct. 1.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.