Kure Beach Town Council considers adopting paid parking
By WECT Staff | January 25, 2021 at 8:11 PM EST – Updated January 26 at 12:03 AM
KURE BEACH, N.C. (WECT) – After a presentation by Premium Parking at its meeting Monday night, Kure Beach Town Council decided to table its decision until the Town Council retreat Monday February 1. Councilors want to review the company’s contract before moving forward.
At a public meeting held in early January 2021, Premium Parking was selected from two companies that responded to a request for proposal.
“We picked Premium Parking because of their cost and because of their ease of use and ease of set up,” said Kure Beach Mayor Craig Bloszinsky. “
Kure Beach has always been known for its free parking where people could enjoy the beach and the town without having to pay the prices of some of the neighboring beaches like Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach that both charge $5 an hour to park.
The town’s parking committee has marked 632 spaces that would turn into paid spots.
Bloszinsky says that parking isn’t free.
“We need to clean up, we need to take care of the streets, we need to take care of the restrooms; there are a lot of things we need to do, and if you don’t pay to park, than actually the residents are paying the bill for everything. If you pay to park, you’re contributing to the things that you are using.”
In the summer of 2020, the Town Council began to look more seriously at the potential revenue from paid parking. The Town held three public meetings to provide input into the future of parking in Kure Beach.
In 2017, it also underwent a paid parking pilot program for some of the municipal parking lots.
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