20 Nov, 2009
Huntington Beach Parking Fees Now $15 Day
Posted by: Beach Reporter In: beaches| california| events
Huntington Beach, CA — In a good news / bad news scenario, Huntington Beach city council members voted to raise parking fees, now charging its own residents $150 to park at the beach with an annual pass, or pay $15 each day to park. Things could have been worse. The city staff under advisement of a study performed by an independent company recommended charging residents close to $100 more than was approved for the right to park at the city garages, meters, and beach parking lots.
Council member, Cathy Green, favored increasing rates to this amount, while others disagreed. Due to economic conditions and a recession, most council members expressed their concern, and voted against city staff recommenation to create two separate parking passes for residents at nearly $100 extra. They also voted against removing parking validations programs offered by merchants downtown in which customers currently may receive stamped validations in return for spending money in particular stores and restaurants. Downtown merchants will have to pay a lot more for their employee parking now as those rates went from 50 cents per hour to $2 an hour.
In the study presented by Huntington Beach City staff, Huntington Beach was compared to cities such as Laguna Beach and Newport Beach which they said have higher fees. HB, a beach destination which receives over 11 million visitors each year, should be charging more money to residents and tourists alike, they advised. Saying that the city rates weren’t in alignment with even the two state operated beaches in the city that now charge $15 flat rate per day (beginning in August 2009, ) they pointed to demand for parking, and observation that visitors seem willing to pay the amount, even on special days such as the 4th of July when the rates can tap out even higher.
Not everyone was overjoyed with the vote and decision to raise rates. Many downtown merchants and residents are hurting during the recession, and additional fees are not welcomed in financially challenging times.
News channels have announced that there’s a flat fee for overnight parking at $5 in Huntington Beach. While parking at downtown Huntington Beach will become a $5 flat fee after 9 p.m., city parking lots usually close each night.
