NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – A new task force is looking for ways to expand the parking in New Smyrna Beach, especially around Canal Street and Flagler Avenue. While they search for a solution, the city is also cracking down on illegal parking.
It just passed an ordinance increasing the penalties for those who break the parking rules.
“The more people hear about New Smyrna and the more popular we become, parking is a premium,” New Smyrna Beach police Chief Eric Feldman said.
Unless you’re lucky enough to get one of the couple dozen parallel spots on Flagler Avenue or a spot in one of the half dozen or so parking lots, there aren’t many options right now.
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“We don’t have as much parking as we would like and what we see is people taking advantage. They’re parking the wrong way, they’re taking their parking ticket and considering that a good deal and staying all day, or they’re blocking roads,” Feldman said.
The chief said under the newly revised ordinance, officers can now tow or boot more illegally parked cars on top of issuing higher fines. He hopes it will especially help the beachside business owners and residents.
“People come in and they block their driveway,” he said. “They park the wrong way in front of their homes, or they are just waiting for the beach to reopen during high tide and they just park in the middle of the road.”
The city created the parking task force in March, bringing together seven business owners and residents.
Right now, they are looking into hiring a traffic monitoring system or creating more paid parking spots with the ultimate goal of learning how much traffic is coming in. Then, they could determine how many more parking lots, or even garages, may be needed.
“I think the garage is going to be a necessity,” said Kevin Corbi, who manages The Seahorse Inn on Flagler Avenue.
Corbi said his staff has to watch their parking lot constantly.
“They will park right underneath the no parking sign and start to walk away, and we have to catch them,” he said.
With the Fourth of July around the corner, Feldman said that was their busiest day last year and expects this year to be the same.
He said the ordinance went into immediate effect so they will have even more officers out that day looking for those breaking the rules.
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