WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH — Changes are coming to the Wrightsville Beach parking program for the 2026 season and it doesn’t include parking rate escalations. Instead, the board voted for an all-day rate reduction.
The Wrightsville Beach Board of Alderman were unanimous last Thursday to implement changes ahead of the season, which begins in two weeks, March 1, and lasts through Oct. 31. Changes are coming to all-day rates only, which means premium spots (closest to the beach) will decrease from $35 to $30 a day and non-premium spots from $30 to $25.
READ MORE: $7 hourly weekend parking, other changes suggested in WB next season
“It’s back to the 2024 rate structure,” Town Manager Haynes Brigman said at the meeting. “It’s a very popular option for users.”
However, between 2024 and 2025 there was a 15,000 transaction reduction in the daily rate since the town increased the price by $5. Brigman told the aldermen it had around 665,000 parking transactions last year, which equals more than 83,000 a month, with more than 15,000 citations given.
Port City Daily asked Brigman how much revenue loss that equated to in total, as well as what the parking program, overseen by Pivot Parking, brought in for Wrightsville Beach last season. An answer wasn’t received by press, but this will be updated upon response; however, according to the fiscal year 2025-2026 budget, the town projected $6.7 million.
Hourly parking rates in 2026 will remain the same, despite adjustment considerations batted by staff and aldermen earlier this year. The rates are currently $5 an hour from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. unless they’re premium spots, which is $6 an hour from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Last month, the town council discussed increasing the hourly rate to $7 on weekends, while decreasing the weekday rates to $4 an hour.
“I’ve learned more about parking in the last 30 days than I did in my first eight years on this board,” Mayor Ken Dull said at the meeting. “I think I’m up to a master’s degree in parking.”
Port City Daily asked the mayor if it received pushback from the public after last month’s meeting about raising hourly rates; he said the response was 50/50 for those against and those for it.
“Everytime we discuss things in a work session, they’re just ideas, not conclusions or confirmations,” he indicated. “That is why we are forming the new ad hoc committee.”
The board agreed to the launch of a parking committee, made up of residents and business owners who can study and research data, and assess what is working and what isn’t when it comes to parking on Wrightsville Beach. More so, the committee will chat with visitors and residents to hear their concerns, criticisms and suggestions.
Dull told PCD the group hasn’t decided yet how many people will make up the committee.
“There are so many perspectives we want to include,” Brigman explained at last week’s meeting, noting the standing committee would meet on a regular basis and make recommendations for future years.
Alderman Zeke Partin thought it was a good move, as making changes to weekend and weekday hourly rates without more information could be a gamble.
“It’s hard to determine how it would affect people’s habits,” she said. “If they’d rather take the day off and they live in Raleigh and drive all the way to Wrightsville Beach on a Tuesday so they can get a parking place versus weekend. We can put together all of these scenarios, but we don’t know if people are going to adapt.”
Partin also was uncertain whether residents would have liked, say, busier weekdays if parking is $4 an hour, stating some may prefer it quieter coming out of packed Saturdays and Sundays. She agreed that a committee assessing what people across the beach would like to see is a better starting point, also echoed by her fellow board members, Todd Schoen, Jeff DeGroote and Margaret Baggett.
“A lot of municipalities have a parking committee,” DeGroote added at the meeting. “I think it will be key moving forward for our municipality to have that.”
Baggett said the board and staff already spent countless hours trying to understand three main components that should be taken into consideration: congestion, protecting small businesses and revenue. A focused committee could be better equipped to bring back findings.
Schoen approved of how the committee would become more of a community effort, instead of just being “Todd’s idea or Margaret’s idea.”
Dull added the outcome is to help alleviate congestion by controlling parking in a more streamlined fashion. He added the island government’s job is to balance the needs of its residents, business owners and incoming tourists alike.
“Not one can survive without the others,” he said, crediting island neighbor and Carolina Beach Mayor Lynn Barbee for that outlook.
Brigman reminded aldermen other changes are also being put forth this season, to include the removal of 11 parking spaces along North Lumina Avenue normally bagged for restricted use on holidays and weekends, in order to provide more access for public safety needs and EMS. Some old parking meters and stations also will be removed.
Plus, there will be a new map embedded on Pivot Parking’s interface to keep parkers up to date on real-time information where spots are available. Brigman said it would be roughly 90% accurate, as it’s based on checkout transactions as they take place in varied areas. The map could better direct people to less crowded places on the island.
“It’s still in the development phase but can be accessed anywhere whether at Wrightsville Beach or on your couch in Indiana,” Brigman said. “It’s new technology nobody in the region is using and expected to go live sometime in May.”
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