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Wrightsville Beach
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Meter season returns

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With Arctic temperatures blasting the region throughout much of February, the first signs of summer at Wrightsville Beach will likely arrive in the form of metal meter heads returning to parking spots around the island March 1.

The town’s paid parking fees are the same as last year, charging beachgoers $2.50 per hour between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. through Oct. 31.

Several equipment updates will be implemented following meetings between Lanier Parking and the board of aldermen. For now, those changes come in the form of better meters, not more meters.

Many frequent beachgoers, for example, will no longer have to stash quarters in their glove compartments to pay for parking. Meters with credit card capabilities will replace a portion of the town’s coin-operated meters.

Lanier Parking recommended the town eventually replace 393 meters throughout the island, but the aldermen voted to first try the new meters only in the commercial business district.Businesses in that vicinity were strained by people asking for quarters, Lanier Parking Eastern Carolina General Manager Kerry Loomis said, so the new meters would alleviate that inconvenience.

The machines’ advanced software would also ease customer frustration by alerting parking staff to meter jams and resolving appeals.

“If someone tells me, ‘The meter maid showed up two minutes after my meter ran out,’ we can actually look at that and grant that appeal,” Lanier Parking Manager Bryant Sykes said, referencing the grace period.

The meters generally received a positive response from patrons, he added.

“We got a great response there,” he said, “because you’re offering the tender form that [they] want, and they’re PCI compliant so everyone’s security is protected.”

Outdated pay stations on Seagull, Shearwater and West Columbia streets will also be replaced. Loomis recommended purchasing new pay stations rather than installing IPS meters on each of the spaces to reduce both visual clutter and collection time.

Town leaders did weigh the benefits of adding meters to Pelican and Causeway drives, and Marina and Keel streets, but ultimately decided against that option.

Alderwoman Lisa Weeks said many beachgoers and boaters took advantage of free parking along those roads, especially Old Causeway Drive, leaving nowhere for patrons of the nearby businesses to park. The situation would only be exacerbated this summer, she said, with Poe’s Tavern opening.

“This past summer there were a lot of trailers being parked on Old Causeway,” she said. “The concern is that if Poe’s [Tavern] opens in June, which is what they’re planning on, those trailers could take up parking spaces for their patrons.”

Weeks said the biggest issue was boaters unhitching their trailers and occupying two spaces — one for their car and one for their trailer.

If meters were added only to Old Causeway Drive, Sykes pointed out, people would simply park on nearby Keel Street or Marina Street.

“It’s an all or nothing scenario,” he said.

The board decided a better way to address boat trailers on Old Causeway Drive was to ask the police department to enforce a town ordinance mandating parked trailers be hooked to a vehicle.

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