By Michael Praats | January 6, 2021 at 9:01 AM EST – Updated January 6 at 12:11 PM
KURE BEACH, N.C. (WECT) – It could be the end of an era for visitors to Kure Beach as the town is once again ready to consider a paid parking program. The beach town has, for years, been the one town in New Hanover County that offered free parking for visitors heading to the beach.
On Wednesday the parking committee hosted a public meeting to discuss two different proposals from different companies, however, the town decided to keep the names of the two companies private. Proposals submitted to a government are conidered public record according to the UNC School of Government.
.”..Actually, all of the proposals you received are public records. As I mentioned in an earlier post, all documents, papers, photographs, and electronic records that you have made or received while transacting public business are considered public records under North Carolina law. G.S. 132-1,” according to the SOG.
The committee ultimately decided to go with ‘company two’ but it will be up to the Town Council to approve or deny the proposal. Also, council will be the ones who set the costs, if any, for residents, businesses, and employees around the town.
Mayor Craig Bloszinsky said he hopes to have the proposal sent to council by Jan. 20 in order to give them time to read it so when they meet, they will be able to vote yes or no.
He also said that there will be another public meeting to discuss the paid parking program – but Bloszinsky said that meeting will be to tell the public what direction council is taking since the town has already gathered input from residents during previous meetings.
“I think our next public meeting would really be a meeting that … here’s where it’s going folks, and this is what it means and this is how it works. We already had three public hearings or public meetings where we had over 100+ people tell us they wanted parking,” he said.
The town has toyed with the concept of paid parking in the past, back in 2017 the town started a paid parking pilot program for some of the municipal parking lots, however, it was the summer of 2020 that the town got serious about the prospect of bringing in additional revenues.
The Town Council will likely hear and vote on the proposal at an upcoming meeting based on the discussion held today.
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