KURE BEACH — The Kure Beach parking program could include changes at the start of the 2027 season, with daily rates, expansion dates and more, should commissioners agree. However, they want public feedback first.
Kure Beach commissioners met Oct. 26 and covered the possibility of increasing daily rates by $10, eliminating weekly rates ($125), and leaving hourly rates as is ($6); it has 628 parking spaces in town limits. The town also may extend program hours and months in hopes of increasing its revenue and thwarting the need to raise property taxes.
“We’ve already asked our citizens and property owners to absorb increases in property taxes, garbage and recycling rates and water and sewer rates this year,” commissioner Mark Dirks said.
READ MORE: Potential $13% tax increase in Kure Beach, some fee increases could offset $1.7M deficit
Dirks spearheaded the agenda item. Kure Beach raised its property taxes by 2.3 cents this fiscal year. Garbage collection rates increased by $3.09, and the town raised its water and sewer minimum charge by 10% and its usage-based rate tiers by 20%.
“In my opinion, it just makes good sense for us to evaluate ways for our visitors to contribute more towards the cost of services they use,” he said at Monday’s meeting.
No vote was taken because commissioners want to gather public feedback; they’re accepting public comments through Nov. 9 (email the town clerk) and could take up a vote Nov. 16.
The Kure Beach parking program currently runs from March 15 to Sept. 30, hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dirk worked with Premium Parking and town staff to extend paid parking by roughly a month and 15 days. If commissioners vote in agreement, the new season would run from March 1 through Oct. 31 and also adjust hours to either 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. The goal is to mirror what Carolina Beach does mostly, as its program hours begin at 9 a.m.
“So I believe consistency will be appreciated by visitors that come to the island,” Dirks said, noting matching Carolina Beach’s program wasn’t going to make Kure Beach lose its individuality.
Daily rates are proposed to rise to $35 from $25. Weekly rates are proposed to be excluded due to a lack of popularity. According to staff’s numbers, weekly rates only brought in $16,000 and amounted to 133 total transactions in 2026.
Dirks added the town suggested some discount lots, like on the outskirts of town, that go for $20 a day instead of $35. He cited the K Avenue parking lot as an example and said it could become a cost-effective way for visitors to enjoy the island and beach.
“But I don’t want to just kick the can down the road,” Dirks said.
Mayor Pro Tem David Heglar supported changing the lot on K Avenue but worried about the financial implications for visitors with the season and hour extensions. He also shared some weariness about the rebranding message.
“I don’t see a reason for us to try and align with Carolina Beach on anything necessarily,” he said, referencing Dirks’ earlier statement. “It’s important to me that we have our own distinct world.”
Mayor Allen Oliver suggested the parking rate increase was going to be a pattern in other county beaches as well.
“I’ve talked to the Wrightsville Beach town manager and the mayor of Carolina Beach,” he said. “They both said that more than likely they would have some increases.”
Port City Daily reached out to both towns to verify as much but did not receive a response by press.
Resident Beverly Lim suggested Kure Beach was not Carolina Beach and said the extended hours and season would deter businesses.
“We just had the best September we’ve had in a long time, and the reason being — the weather’s been nice — people had places to park,” she said.
The numbers from the 2026 parking season were the best the town has seen in years, Oliver said. There were 58,607 transactions in 2026, totalling $1.1 million. Almost 4,000 season permits were purchased, and about 3,600 citations were issued; 800 of those citations were voided or appealed.
Kure Beach will make up the loss of weekly rate revenue with changes made elsewhere. It could bring in anywhere between $145,000 to $210,000 more.
It breaks down to $40,000 to $60,000 annually just by expanding the season a month-and-a-half, while extended hours could yield an additional $30,000 to $50,000. Increasing daily rates could bring in $75,000 to $100,000 more in revenue.
Heglar and commissioner Connie Mearkle wanted to maintain the same paid parking season and hours, though for different reasons.
Heglar suggested the extended season would impact fishermen coming in who don’t usually visit in the height of summer.
“Expanding the season gets into a different financial class of people, I think,” he said.
Mearkle said she supported a day rate increase but was hesitant to extend the paid parking program by a month and 15 days, and opposed longer hours. Mearkle thought the day rate saved residents the most money.
Resident Mike McMahon suggested the longer paid parking hours could harm businesses by deterring visitors, and said it could act as a detriment to local community events.
McMahon sits on the Kure Beach Community Center Committee and spearheads the AI roundtable discussions to educate residents on the technology’s use.
“What I would like the council to consider is that we do have meetings at 6 or 6:30 at the community center so changing to 8 o’clock is gonna be a hardship to anybody looking to attend that,” he said.
Residents and visitors are allowed to buy parking permits, which the town also wants to simplify purchases of this winter. While it staggered discounted permits last year — available to buyers from $50 to $225 over four weeks in February — this year people will purchase permits either at a discounted rate for two weeks in February or at full price after the Valentine’s Day deadline. There is only one discounted rate in 2027 — $50 — and then the full price is $250 after Feb. 14.
Commissioner Byron Ashbridge worried the increase to $250 for the season permit would be counterintuitive to improving affordability for residents.
“Why not make it more cost affordable for people to be able to buy permits throughout the year?” he asked.
Other changes proposed include giving nonprofits a 15% parking discount for special events approved by the town, improving the marketing of their season permits to the rest of New Hanover County, updating signage and potentially adding more golf cart parking spots in town. However, no plans were discussed for the items and the town could not provide estimated costs upon request.
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