By WECT Staff | February 1, 2021 at 5:29 AM EST – Updated February 2 at 4:56 AM
KURE BEACH, N.C. (WECT) – It’s the sole beach town in New Hanover County that does not charge visitors for parking, but that will soon be coming to an end as Kure Beach Town Council members met Monday and approved a paid parking program.
The debate was tabled on Jan. 26 until Feb. 1 during a Town Council retreat as council members wanted to review the contracts before moving forward with approval. Now, they have done just that.
The company the town selected is Premium Parking which will provide all the parking services as well as enforcement.
“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 at the town’s previous meeting.
The move will take more than 600 parking spaces that are currently free, and turn them into paid spaces.
“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,” Blosznisky said.
Parking issues have become a more common problem for the town, and last summer, according to the Kure Beach Chief of Police Mike Bowden, the town struggled with visitors parking in places they should not have.
The Town Council will meet again on Feb. 12 to work on an agreement regarding the rates and other details so a contract can be drawn up for the three-year contract.
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