Carolina Beach is considering adding over one hundred more parking meters along two main streets in the heart of town.
The proposal puts 115 new meters along the 200 block of Cape Fear Boulevard and along Lake Park Boulevard between Harper Avenue and Fayetteville Avenue. A maximum of two free hours of street parking is currently allowed in those areas.
The idea came after 25 parking meters placed along the 100 of Cape Fear Boulevard last year proved successful for the town in collecting more revenue. The town also wants to increase turnover in these areas to help out local businesses and discourage beach visitors from parking in these areas all day.
The meters would be run by SP Plus Parking, the company that currently runs the other meters in town as well a the machines in town parking lots (including ones on Harper and Hamlet Avenues, which are in the vicinity of the new proposed meters). According to Town Manager Michael Cramer, the pay rate will remain the same at $1.50 per hour.
If approved, the project is expected to cost the town $110,000. According to numbers provided by SP Plus Parking, the company is expecting the new meters to net $144,223 in revenue in the first year. A conservative return on investment of 75 percent puts the estimated revenue at $108,167. That means the meters will pay for themselves in one season despite the fact that parking fees are not collected between November and March.
Town staff is recommending approval of the proposal. The Carolina Beach Town Council will be voting on it at their meeting Tuesday night.
Also of note on the initial agenda is the awarding of the contract bid to complete the northern boardwalk extension that was approved by the state in November. Due to a lack of applicants (only one bid was submitted by the original Feb. 4 deadline), the item has been pulled from the agenda. The submission period has been extended to Feb. 11. If there are still a low number of applicants, the deadline will continue to be pushed back in seven-day increments.
The council meets at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers at Town Hall. A full agenda for the meeting can be found here.
