Hike in Parking Price at Rehoboth Beach
Community members and City officials comment on the price spike
REHOBOTH BEACH, De. – Paying for parking isn’t a foreign concept, but how much is too much? City Hall representatives and local business owners comment on the recent spike in the Rehoboth beach parking prices
The Board of Commissioners in Rehoboth Beach approved the increase for parking meters and permits after facing a budget deficit that has ballooned to $4.5 million. City officials say this is an effort to balance next year’s budget. “It’s quite an expense for a small business owner to have to buy parking passes.” Laurie Orfanidis, Owner of Sunny Bay Cafe located on Rehoboth Avenue, purchases parking passes during the summer season for her full-time employees. However, sometimes, she says they can’t even park at their own business. “A lot of our clientele, you know, come in early and they take up a lot of the front parking spaces… a lot of places that have to walk blocks and blocks just to get to their business, because of where they’re allowed to park.”
Evan Miller, Assistant City Manager for Rehoboth Beach, says that every business is entitled to one free parking permit, and they work with businesses if they choose to buy multiple passes.
Orfanidis says that decision doesn’t benefit every business. “I do know that there’s a lot of businesses in town that have more than one owner, that is onsite daily, and it’s a shame they don’t take that into consideration when handing out passes as well.”
Miller tells us the 30% increase in permit pricing will cover the cost of summer concerts, beach beautification, and other capital improvements. Metered parking will go up from $3 an hour to $4. “It’s important that we look at all revenue sources to make sure that we recoup the cost of providing those amenities and services,” Orfanidis says that in the past, she’s even paid out of her own wallet to help her employees offset parking fines and believes this is an unfortunate situation for everyone. “It was $275 last year, and this year I bought $325 parking passes. We buy the transferable just in case someone wants to bring a different car to work or if their car breaks down… I feel it’s outrageous.”
Whether the increase will prevent locals from visiting downtown, is yet to be determined. “I don’t think we’re concerned about it deterring the locals. I think, again, largely what we hear is that the visitors are the ones who will come and largely feed the meter,” says Miller. Orfanidis has a different perspective. “People come down here to vacation, they’re going to pay the extra money during the season. I know the locals will not come… We already have locals that are telling us, that’s they’ll see us in the fall, because they are not willing to pay. So, that is one downfall being here on the avenue.”
Looking ahead to the summer season, the owners of Sunny Bay Cafe stress how important the community is to their business. “We love our locals, we have a great following with our locals, and we love seeing them. We hope, you know, that maybe they’ll make it down here once or twice during the summer season.” City Hall says that they have implemented some preliminary recommendations from parking and traffic study such as painting signs for 30-minute parking and pedestrian safety. Parking and Transportation have started to have conversations about a parking garage.
