FORT PIERCE–The Fort Pierce City Commission will hear recommendations Monday to end plans to implement paid-parking at three municipal beach parks.
The city’s Parking Committee is also recommending taking initial steps toward building a new, downtown parking garage at the site of the former JC Penney parking area, fronting Indian River Drive, between Avenue A and Orange Avenue.
Those recommendations are included in a Parking Committee report on the agenda for Monday’s 9 a.m. commission meeting at city hall.
The city went as far as awarding a parking services contract in 2024, that would have turned free parking at Jaycee, Jetty and South Causeway parks into paid spaces for vehicles and boat trailers. Officials initially had expected that to become effective Nov. 1, 2024.
Ryan Collins, Parking Committee chairman, is expected to explain eight recommendations that followed the committee’s January decision “to not pursue the Pay to Park program.”
Those recommendations include abandoning the bid awarded to administer paid parking for about 300 spaces at the three city parks and pursuing a request for proposals for a new downtown parking garage. The committee has said “no additional parking studies are needed” and existing parking ordinances should be enforced with a full-time enforcement officer. In addition, it recommends creating “new temporary parking permit categories (for) downtown residential and short-term residential rental.”
Another recommendation proposes amending an “ordinance to prohibit overnight parking for on-street parking and Marina Square” and allowing closure of Second Street “for events only.” The committee also suggests re-striping parking spaces “for effective use and enforcement.”
The issues go back to , when the city paid for a parking study to recommend ways to maximize and pay for critical parking needs.
At that time, the city said Fort Pierce was “one of the few coastal cities in Florida without a paid parking system.”
“However, as demand for high-quality public amenities increases and legislative changes restrict traditional funding sources, the city must explore sustainable revenue options,” the city said then. “…This approach allows us to maintain and improve these vital spaces without increasing the tax burden on local residents.”
Officials said then that adding the parking revenues would help fund “infrastructure improvements, enhanced beach maintenance, increased public safety and upkeep of recreational areas.”
Fort Pierce continues to face tight budgets, commissioners have said.
According to January Parking Committee minutes, members unanimously endorsed having the city’s engineering and purchasing departments “advertise a request for proposals to design a parking garage at the JC Penney parking lot site.” That could be part of Monday’s commission discussion as it receives the committee’s recommendations.