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LOCAL
Wilmington StarNews
Visitors to Wrightsville Beach could see a few changes to paid parking in the coming year, one of those being an increase in the daily rate.
The town uses Pivot Parking, which is an independent contracting party that oversees the town’s parking efforts. Mayor Darryl Mills noted during a recent the board of aldermen meeting that the town sets the rates, parking policies and regulations.
Each parking season runs from the beginning of March to the end of October. According to CEO and Co-Founder of Pivot Parking Scott Diggs, there are 1,831 total parking spaces, 40 of which are handicap spaces, 11 of which are lifeguard spaces and 51 one-hour spaces. During the 2024 season, Diggs said there was a total of 581,000 pay-to-park transactions.
Possible daily rate changes
The current rate structure provides a premium parking rate of $6 per hour and $30 for all day. For regular parking, the rate is $5 per hour and $25 all day. The one-hour spots are $3 with no day maximum, so that there’s quick turnover.
Diggs said adding $5 to the daily rate would get prices more in line with prices in Carolina and Kure beaches. Pivot Parking also manages parking for both towns.
Extension to initial citation pay period
Diggs proposed relaxing rules on the initial pay period for citations due to complaints Pivot Parking has received due to the fee increasing after a three-day period. He proposed a five-day period before the fee bumps up to $60.
Diggs said that although the period varies in other beach towns, the maximum is usually seven days. The escalation, he said, encourages people to take care of their parking ticket quickly so they don’t forget about it.
He said extending the period could cost the town some revenue, but that it wouldn’t be a large number and that the customer service aspect outweighs the issue.
New technology pilot
As the parking industry is changing rapidly, Diggs said companies, including Pivot Parking, are implementing new technology to make the process easier.
“It used to be pretty simple ... you put coins in a meter and that is just not the case anymore,” Diggs said. “It’s highly technical, we’re using AI now, we’re using all sorts of data analytic points.”
Diggs proposed using a fixed camera enforcement platform with license plate recognition to pilot at some Wrightsville Beach lots. This system would read a car’s license plate once it enters the lot, be able to tell through comparison with text-to-park and other payment options whether the driver paid or not, be able to see how long the car was in the lot, and then it would know when the car leaves the lot.
Two options for implementation could mean taking no action at the moment and then mailing citations to people or it could notify parking enforcement people to serve citations. The license plate recognition would help with enforcement labor as well as being able to tell each lot’s occupancy.
Mayor Pro Tem Hank Miller noted that the money Pivot Parking saves goes back into the town’s pocket, so labor doesn’t help Pivot Parking make more money, it just makes the town spend more money.
When it comes to trying to find a spot, Diggs said the session wouldn’t start until someone pulls into a spot, so if someone is looking for a spot and then decides to leave without parking, they would not have to pay.
Possible relocation of lifeguard spaces
Another idea that Diggs discussed with the board was the potential relocation of lifeguard spots and putting them somewhere else. Diggs noted that there are grass parking spaces near the town wells that lifeguards could use for free.
The 11 lifeguard spaces, Diggs said, could then be put back into the paid parking system as they would be the most premium spaces.
According to Wrightsville Beach Ocean Rescue’s website, the town employs 92 seasonal lifeguards, who protect approximately four miles of beach.
What's next?
Pivot Parking will bring a proposal to the board at their January meeting for consideration.