Kure Beach parking moves forward
By WECT Staff | February 14, 2021 at 9:43 AM EST – Updated February 15 at 5:02 AM
KURE BEACH, N.C. (WECT) – Free parking is set to become a thing of the past in Kure Beach – but – town leaders are still working out the details.
Back on Feb. 1, the Kure Beach Town Council voted to approve a paid parking program and last Friday they decided the program will start April 1 and run until Sept. 30 Councilman Joseph Whitley said.
Visitors to Kure Beach will be charged $5 an hour, and $20 a day, mirroring the costs of Carolina Beach as well as Wrightsville Beach. Some business are worried this will drive away customers.
“I just can’t see that someone would pay $5 to run in for 5 minutes to gab a cup of coffee,” said Terry Karter the CO-Owner of Happy Hippy Java Hut.
Karter also express concern with how much her and some of her employees with have to pay when it comes to parking. She says she doesn’t want to have issues where they are paying more for parking than they are making.
Not everyone is against the paid parking program.
“I feel like paid parking complicates things a little bit maybe, but I’d I say on the other had that it could generate a lot of money for things like beach replenishment,” said Eddy Kenny a Kure Beach local.
Town leaders are still trying to reach an agreement on how much to charge businesses and their employees for parking. They once again postponed their discussion. It will resume on Feb. 15, at 4 p.m at the Kure Beach Town Hall.
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