Long Branch considering parking fee hike at Pier Village

It could cost visitors more to park at Pier Village, but the two-hour parking restriction there would be eliminated under a plan being considered by the city council.

LONG BRANCH -- It may soon cost slightly more to park at a popular oceanfront retail spot in Long Branch, but the visitors won't be hassled by any time limits under a plan being considered by the city council.

Two years after adding parking meters to Pier Village and imposing a two-hour parking restriction, the city council is considering eliminating the time limit but hiking the hourly parking rate.

Mayor Adam Schneider said many visitors mistakenly believed the two-hour time limit meant that just by adding more money to the meter, they could keep their cars in the same spot after their allotted time expired. But the ordinance actually requires them to move their cars. So if they didn't move, they'd get ticketed. And Schneider would get the complaints.

"I'd like to simplify it and say 'park as long as you like, but it's going to cost you,'" Schneider said.

Long Branch's Pier Village sold to two New York-based companies

Pier Village, a controversial multi-million dollar endeavor replacing older bungalows and businesses with luxury housing and retail, is part of the city's oceanfront redevelopment zone that is still under construction.

Schneider said he proposed increasing the hourly rate of $1 on weekdays and $2 on weekends to $4. But, he said, he's gotten some push back from some city council members, who feel that rate is too high.

So now they're considering either $2 weekdays/$2 weekends or $1 weekdays and $3 weekends but with no time restrictions.

The two-hour time limit was meant to free up spaces for patrons of the retail stores and restaurants there who otherwise would be shut out of spots by beachgoers who stay for the day, Schneider said.

But he said the city is starting to frown on that arrangement because it hasn't found an efficient way to enforce the time limit and the stores haven't volunteered to help, such as setting up a parking validation system, he said.

"We haven't come up with an efficient way that hasn't (ticked) people off," he said. "We're all on the side of the businesses, but I don't think there's an efficient way to do it."

The city initially planned to install the meters in the summer of 2013, but delayed that a year in its attempt to lure visitors back to the Shore after Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. Schneider said the meters, which are in effect between May and September, generated about $600,000 in revenue in their first year and more than $800,000 last year. That was also the same year the city took in $2 million in beach fees - its highest ever, Schneider said.

The city council discussed the parking fees at its recent planning session but Schneider says he doesn't expect the topic to be on the agenda for Tuesday's meeting because there's no consensus yet on what the new fee will be.