Free Oceanfront parking for Virginia Beach residents becomes hot-button election issue
VIRGINIA BEACH — Free parking for residents in Oceanfront garages has become a hot button issue this election season with the two candidates who are running for District 5 promising they'll make it a priority if elected.
"Residents of Virginia Beach pay to build the parking garages; they should be able to enjoy them going to the beach or for major events," candidate L.G. Shaw said in a recent campaign video. "Locals don't feel welcome because of inconvenient and expensive parking."
Shaw said he was surprised to see garage parking costs $15 after Labor Day. He wants free parking for residents in the off-season.
Candidate Rosemary Wilson took it a step further.
"I believe you should be able to park all day long for free," Wilson said in one of her campaign videos. "In Virginia Beach, it's your beach; it's our beach; and locals matter."
Now, the Atlantic Avenue Association, an Oceanfront community/business group that has long advocated for more parking options, is also weighing in.
"We talk about being a welcoming resort; what's more unwelcoming than not being able to go to a community festival because you can't find parking," George Kotarides, Atlantic Avenue Association founder and past president, said in an interview. "Virginia Beach residents deserve better."
The association wants free resident parking in the garages year-round as well as additional parking options on Atlantic Avenue.
"We would love to see free parking for Virginia Beach residents," said Dee Nachnani, association president. "This is a great way for people to access the resort."
He believes tax dollars generated by having more people spending money at the Oceanfront will offset the forgone parking fees.
The resort area has three municipal parking garages with more than 1,670 spaces available for public use. City residents are currently charged a discounted rate of $3, but only after 5 p.m.
Peak pricing for public parking in municipal lots and garages during the summer ranges from $15 to $22. Private lots can charge even higher fees.
Other options to increase public transit and reduce car dependence in Virginia Beach have had mixed buy-in. Voters roundly rejected an expansion of the region's light rail system into the city in 2016. A decades-old trolley system is operational at the Oceanfront but only during summer months. The city greenlighted a federally funded project this year that will eventually connect Norfolk to the Oceanfront via a 12-mile pedestrian and biking trail . Meanwhile, Hampton Roads Transit has reupped a microtransit service that offers $2 rides in parts of Virginia Beach. The Resort Advisory Commission wants to explore other microtransit options for the resort area after Freebee's free ride service contract ended last month.
While encouraging residents to come to the resort area is part of the Atlantic Avenue Association's mission, they also want the city to increase the overall Oceanfront parking inventory.
With Atlantic Park scheduled to open next summer, Nachnani and others are concerned that finding a parking spot will be more of a challenge.
Atlantic Park will include two parking garages with about 1,400 spaces for the surf park, entertainment venue, retail shops, restaurants, office and residential units, according to the city. But if the garages are full, people could look for spots outside of the venue, further straining the already limited parking options in the resort area, Nachnani said.
From Nov. 1 to March 31, people can park for free in makeshift spaces along most of Atlantic Avenue's trolley lane. The association is recommending the city allow parking along Atlantic Avenue in the summer and add meters. The city will remove the trolley lanes in a major overhaul of Atlantic Avenue in the coming years but does not plan to stop using the trolleys.
Kotarides is hopeful the association can convince the city to add metered parking spaces.
"Everyone should enjoy it (the resort area) and not feel uncomfortable about access and being able to park," Kotarides said.
