ST. PETE BEACH — During budget hearings this summer, city commissioners may vote to hike the price of parking in a metered space from $3.25 to $5 an hour, and also institute a 3-hour parking limit on non-metered spaces downtown.
With visitors flocking to St. Pete Beach in droves, the city enjoyed a financial windfall from parking revenue even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many considering the beach the safest place for an outing.
Parking issues are “significant” in Pass-a-Grille, Commissioner Melinda Pletcher told fellow commissioners during a Feb. 22 meeting. She said city parking lots and available spaces fill up, especially on weekends. Motorists circle blocks repeatedly looking for a parking space.
“I just keep hearing over and over, why are we not charging more for our parking? There’s obviously a need, a want and limited capacity-type situation,” Pletcher said. “We kind of teetered on that the last time we addressed a parking increase.”
Parking at metered spaces in St. Pete Beach is currently $3.25 an hour, with the city imposing a holiday rate of $15 a day on Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day weekends.
Pletcher asked fellow commissioners to “think about” raising the parking fee to $5 an hour. “When I think about what a commodity it is, (and) the fact that we are leaving a lot of money on the table … We’re still absorbing a lot of the cost with those folks that are coming here day-tripping and visiting our area.”
Pletcher also suggested the city’s Corey Avenue business district follow Pass-a-Grille’s lead and institute a 3-hour parking limit for non-metered spaces.
She said a parking time limit will serve to turn over spaces more quickly and keep beachgoers and employees from using the non-metered spots.
Pletcher said freeing up spaces on Corey Avenue, by limiting each motorist’s time in a space to three hours, may resolve some concerns raised by the city when it allowed restaurants, drink and food venues to utilize their parking spaces for outdoor dining in areas called “parklets.”
“It just made me wonder, if those parking spots are so valuable that the parklets are not well-received, maybe we need to also look at putting some time frames on the those parking spots, so nobody is leaving their car there and going to the beach,” she said. “Three hours is working very nicely for Pass-a-Grille. It’s free parking, but it still has a time constraint that keeps folks … actually patronizing our businesses.”
City Manager Alex Rey said enforcing 3-hour parking would be easier on Corey Avenue, because the city could put sensors in each parking spot. The sensor will notify parking enforcement staff when someone has exceeded the time limit. It’s more difficult to enforce in Pass-a-Grille because of brick streets.
Rey said staff has not yet considered installing sensors on Corey Avenue, “but we can have that discussion” if commissioners want to take that route.
Pletcher said she didn’t know if raising the metered rates to $5 would deter beachgoers or lead them to go to another beach.
Rey said topic will be a “good discussion for the budget.”
Commissioners could formally vote to adopt either a parking meter rate increase or the 3-hour time limit during summer budget sessions.
DOT grant helps Boca Ciega project
City commissioners voted unanimously to accept a $1.5 million grant from the Florida Department of Transportation to help defray the cost of the $2 million Boca Ciega Drive redesign and improvement project.
Assistant City Manager Vince Tenaglia said the $2 million needed for the project are funds “already approved in the budget.”
Rey told commissioners the city is about 60 percent complete with the design, and plans will be completed in May, when the project can be put out for bids. Work could begin in late summer and project could be completed in summer 2023.
Tenaglia said the project includes roadway and streetscape improvements from 87th Avenue to 75th Avenue, spanning the eastern curb to the western right-of-way limits on Boca Ciega Drive.
The project will replace the curb along both sides of the road, reduce of travel lane widths to 10 feet, install of a mid-block crossing for the Community Center near 76th Avenue, and replace the sidewalk on the west side of the road with an 8-foot sidewalk.
The project will also include the addition of shared-lane bicycle signs and markings, a 5-foot minimum landscaped buffer between the new sidewalk and the roadway, shade trees where possible, and speed tables for traffic calming at the intersections of 77th Avenue and 84th Avenue. In addition, on-street parallel parking will be constructed at St. Albans Church and Gulf Beaches Elementary.