St. Pete Beach Parking could reach $5 an hour
- March 9, 2022
St. Pete Beach could soon see a rise in parking prices.
City commissioner, Melinda Pletcher, would like to see parking fees increase to $5 an hour. Parking at metered spaces in St. Pete Beach is currently $3.25 an hour, with the city imposing a holiday rate of $15 a day on Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day weekends. If parking fees are increased to $5 an hour, parking on St. Pete Beach will be more expensive than any other beach in the Tampa Bay area.
“I just keep hearing over and over, why are we not charging more for our parking? There’s obviously a need, a want and limited capacity-type situation,” Pletcher said. “We kind of teetered on that the last time we addressed a parking increase.”
During the February 22nd commission meeting, Pletcher mentioned that parking issues are “significant” in Pass-a-Grille. She also mentions that the city parking lots and available spaces fill up, especially on weekends. This then causes motorists to circle blocks repeatedly looking for a parking space.
City Commission Meeting Feb 22
Pletcher would also like to see a change in parking policies for Corey Avenue’s business district. She has proposed a 3-hour limit for non-metered spaces in the area and hopes this will help keep business employees from taking up the non-meter spots for hours at a time and will discourage people from parking in those areas and then walking to the beach. Mayor, Al Johnson agreed that adding 3-hour parking to Corey Avenue is a good idea and also suggested changing the times the meters are enforced by shortening the window.
Corey Avenue Business District
City Manager Alex Rey said enforcing 3-hour parking would be easier on Corey Avenue because the city could put sensors in each parking spot. The sensor will notify parking enforcement staff when someone has exceeded the time limit. However, this would be more difficult to enforce in Pass-a-Grille because of brick streets.
Further discussion of these proposals will take place in this upcoming summer’s budget workshop before moving forward. For questions, comments, and concerns, contact your commissioner for more information.
Follow Us on Social Media
Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so that you can always stay up to date with breaking news and updates, as well as city news and photos.
