New details revealed in city’s implementation plan
Despite persistent pushback from residents, the City of Fernandina Beach Board of Commissioners took another step toward the implementation of paid parking downtown during their workshop on Tuesday.
The bulk of the workshop was a discussion of a revenue model that projected the amount of money the city would make annually based on several tentative factors. The model assumes that the fare for parking would be $2 an hour with the option of a $100 annual permit for non-taxpaying residents.
Taxpaying residents of Fernandina Beach would remain able to park for free but with certain limitations. Due to one permit being assigned to a singular license plate, the free parking permit provided to residents may only cover one vehicle per household. The commissioners discussed charging a $24 cost of permit issuance for each additional car.
In addition to the vehicle constraints, both resident and non-resident parking permits will not enable people to park in the premium zone for an infinite amount of time.The commissioners discussed a 3- to 4-hour limit for each car in the premium parking zone.
The enforcement hours will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays to prevent any potential conflicts with attending church services.
The assumptions resulted in a net revenue of $1,840,447 for the city annually, which will be put toward the three major capital projects which were City Manager Sarah Campbell reiterated when the workshop started.
“The purpose of the paid parking initiative is to fund three major capital projects that we don't have budgeting in our capital or general funds this year or going forward, the seawall construction, the demolition and reconstruction of the docks at Brett’s, and the downtown revitalization project,” she said.
“Parking, we believe, is a user fee that shifts the cost of the maintenance and the improvements from the taxpayers to the users.”
In addressing the citizen petition, which was successful in getting paid parking to be put to a citizen vote in 2026, Mayor James Antun shared that it will be addressed at the next meeting on Oct 21.
The vendor, One Parking, additionally spoke on the way the petition may affect their paid parking plan, suggesting primarily walking enforcement measures be used instead of camera installation to track registered license plates.
“You need to have an easy exit for this contract, and part of that is not investing a lot of infrastructure. Yes, you need the signage, but once you start investing in cameras and all that you are putting in fixed infrastructure — and there is a cost associated with that,” they said.
The paid parking zone or the “premium section” will exist within the area between Front Street to 8th Street and Alachua Street to Ash Street.
The next steps, according to Campbell, are the approval of the contract and enforcement ordinance, and finally, program activation. Key dates for future paid parking meetings are the Consideration of the Citizen Initiative on Oct. 21, he resolution for contract and first ordinance reading on Nov. 4, and the Historic District Council meeting about signage on Nov 15.
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