By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City’s ever-popular parking permits save motorists from the headache of fumbling for cash or coins to feed the meters or parking kiosks.
They also save motorists from the worry of getting a parking ticket.
But this summer, the seasonal and weekly parking permits are going to cost more. The city is planning to raise the price from $200 to $250 for the seasonal permits and from $30 to $50 for the weeklies.
The daily price for metered parking, however, will stay the same – 25 cents for every 15 minutes.
City Council has introduced an ordinance that includes higher prices for the seasonal and weekly parking permits. Council has scheduled a public hearing and final vote on the ordinance at its Feb. 25 meeting, 10 a.m. at City Hall.
The ordinance also calls for higher rental prices for boat slips at the city’s municipal marina on 42nd Place.
Council President J.B. Feeley said the price increases for parking passes and boat slips are “modest” and reflect market rates.
“We want to keep up with the market,” he said.
Feeley explained that additional revenue generated by the higher priced parking permits will help the city maintain the parking meters and the kiosks and paint the lines for the parking spaces around town.
Available on a first come, first served basis, the permits sell out each year. In 2018, Mayor Leonard Desiderio increased the number of seasonal permits from 300 to 400 to meet higher demand. The city will sell 400 this year, too.
The permits allow drivers to park in the metered spaces through the bustling summer tourism season. Drivers who have permits may park continuously, including overnight, in any metered space or at any metered parking lot, except for the 15-minute spaces and at the library at 48th Street and Central Avenue, according to the city’s website.
Parking permits are transferable from vehicle to vehicle, allowing them to be shared by friends and family members. The city forbids the permits from being resold.
Boaters who rent slips at the city’s marina are given a parking permit. But this summer, boaters will pay more to rent their slips in what Feeley called the first price increase in “many, many years.”
Similar to the parking permits, the cost for boat slips are being increased to reflect market rates, Feeley noted.
Slip prices for boats up to 18 feet long will increase from $1,530 to $1,766 and for boats 20 feet long, the fee will rise from $1,700 to $1,940.
For boats 30 feet long, the price is going up from $2,550 to $2,810 and for 40-foot boats, the rates are increasing from $3,400 to $3,670, according to the ordinance.
Featuring 87 boat slips, the marina has been improved in recent years with new landscaping, docks, a boardwalk, an open-air pavilion and public restrooms.
Tucked away in a lagoon along 42nd Place, the marina sits at the foot of the bridge entering Sea Isle on John F. Kennedy Boulevard.
It is regarded as one of the gems of the historic Fish Alley neighborhood, an enclave of family-owned restaurants and fishing boats rooted in Sea Isle’s early history as a small commercial seaport.
