MARGATE – The Board of Commissioners recently issued 18 parking leases to seven businesses in the Washington avenue commercial district, and approved an ordinance Thursday, May 2 limiting the time frame and hours for parking in the city-owned lot on N. Washington Avenue.
The commissioners also discussed adding 20-21 additional parking spaces for patrons of the Amherst Avenue marina and restaurant district, and announced that a privately-owned commercial parking lot would open on the 9400-block of Ventnor Avenue by Memorial Day.
The seven businesses that obtained parking spaces for the summer season during a public auction held two weeks ago include Jalapeno’s and Jersey Coast Insurance, which each leased five spaces; Mark Arbeit & Company, DiLorenzo Realty Group and Heritage Surf Show, which each leased two spaces; and Ricciotti Insurance Agency and Happy Nails, which each leased one space.
The businesses each paid $200 per space to lease the spaces under new terms and conditions that limit the lease period from May 1 to October 31 and parking between 10 a.m. and midnight daily.
The time limitation was approved to allow local residents who obtain parking permits to park in the lot between midnight and 6 a.m.
Previously, the lot closed at 10 p.m., which led Decatur Avenue resident Charles Johnson to object to the extended hours contained in the ordinance.
During public comment, Johnson said the city rarely enforces existing parking regulations in the 18-space parking lot, and that allowing residents to park overnight would cause additional noise during the wee hours of the morning.
“You have regulations that are not enforced now,” Johnson said. “I don’t know of any residents that need to use that at midnight. What’s the enforcement mechanism?”
Johnson complained that commercial vehicles often idle when they deliver goods to nearby establishments.
“The beeping is non-stop,” he said. “Let the commercial (businesses) buy their own lots and have their own parking.”
According to Jim Cotton, the custodian of records for the Margate City Police Department, residents who live above stores in commercial areas can obtain parking permits from the Police Department exempting them from 2-hour parking limitations in certain commercial areas from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend.
“It’s for people who live above the stores and don’t have a driveway or any off-street parking,” Cotton said.
Permit holders must provide proof of residence, including a tax bill, utility bill or lease, and a maximum of two permits can be issued per household, he said. The permits cost $5 each and $20 to replace the placard in the event it is lost or stolen.
About 150 permits are issued each year to residents who live in commercial areas located throughout the city, but they are restricted to parking on the streets closest to their homes, Cotton said.
The permit process was created after residents living above commercial businesses complained they had nowhere to park near their homes, Cotton said.
In other parking related issues, city engineer Ed Dennis Jr. said a revised plan for public parking at the former city tow lot at Benson and Monmouth avenues has yielded an additional three spaces, and when it opens, the lot should have an estimated 20-21 parking spaces.
The city has yet to come up with a plan to enforce overnight parking restrictions in the tow lot for bar and restaurant patrons who may have had too much to drink and get a ride home or take Uber or Lyft.
Police Chief David Wolfson said the department would come back with a recommendation to regulate overnight parking at the tow lot.
Additionally, Jim Leeds, who is developing the old Integrity Marine site on Amherst Avenue, will allow the city to use seven parking spaces where his bulkhead has been replaced, Commissioner John Amodeo said.
In January, the city agreed to transfer to Leeds a 25- by 75-foot strip of land where the parking spaces are located in exchange for Leeds rebuilding the city-owned bulkhead at his own cost. However, the city held the deed to the property in escrow until a legal suit brought by neighbors at Harbor Vista Homeowners Association is resolved.
“He will allow us to put shells on there. It’s still our property, and we can use those seven spots for parking this summer also,” Amodeo said.
Additionally, a lot formerly owned by Johnny’s Café has been sold and will be turned into a commercial parking lot before summer, Zoning Officer Roger McLarnon said.
McLarnon said he met with the new owner who inquired about zoning regulations for the site. He said the new owner would not be required to obtain a site plan approval, because the use of the property was not changing.
“He wants to add some lighting, a security fence and it will be manned or have an electronic fee collection,” he said.
McLarnon said the lot would likely be operational by Memorial Day.
