WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH — A couple commercial areas in a New Hanover County beach town could see changes in parking regulations per the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen’s discussion on Thursday.
The aldermen will talk through parking time flexibility in the area between Latimer and Columbia streets on North Lumina Avenue. Also up for debate is the addition of a new standalone parking district on South Lumina Avenue from Sunset Avenue and Lula Street.
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Town manager Tim Owens said some residents have expressed interest to the board in paying for smaller blocks of time instead of having to pay for an entire hour to access commercial services — the impetus for Thursday’s consideration.
For the new parking district, established near the Oceanic restaurant and Crystal Pier, the aldermen would have to decide whether to use old change meters, purchase new ones, or use text-to-park or app payment methods. The latter would allow patrons to pay in 15-, 30-, 45- or 60-minute increments; it would also offer day passes.
A new rate structure would go into effect if the board of aldermen chooses to implement the mobile payment options and allow for 15-minute increments. Each 15-minute increment would cost 75 cents, resulting in $3 for one hour. This will match the current rate for other one-hour-only spots in town, while other metered and paystation parking follows the town’s universal $5 per hour rate.
With a new system, drivers would have to manually pay for parking at 9 a.m. instead of the current “early bird payment option,” which allows visitors to park for free prior to 9 a.m. and have their parking automatically kick in when the pay period begins.
Town staff does not have a cost estimate for the stickers and signage for text-to-park and app payment information, but Owens said it would be a “reasonable amount.” The installation of new meters — 50 for this area — would cost the town around $25,000 and $15,000 in software fees every year.
Old meters — which only take change and cannot be audited for usage information — would not cost the town any installation costs. Labor costs for collecting the money would range from $3,000 to $4,000 a year.
For the commercial area at the base of the S. Banks Channel Bridge — many spots of which are one-hour-only — the aldermen will consider implementing text-to-park or app payments to allow for shorter parking increments. The aldermen could also choose to expand the time limit to two hours.
If the town chooses to forgo the mobile option, installing new meters, again 50, would also cost the town $25,000 and generate $15,000 in yearly software fees, unless it went with the old meters.
Upon a decision from the aldermen, Owens said the changes would take a few weeks to implement, the longest turnaround time would be for the sticker signage.
The board of aldermen will consider the parking options at its regular meeting on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in town hall council chambers at 321 Causeway Drive.
Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com
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