Free street parking on and near Royal Poinciana Way will soon be a thing of the past.
This week through July, the town will be installing new parking signs from Royal Poinciana Way northward to Dunbar Road as part of a Town Council-approved plan to convert all free parking spaces to paid parking.
The town says paid parking improves space turnover, helps address traffic concerns, and is more efficient.
The change includes expanding ParkMobile paid parking and updating Residential Parking Permit Zones, with some areas getting new parking rules, according to a press release from the town.
Paid parking is $5 an hour except for along the beach and in the 100 (ocean) block of Sunrise Avenue, where it is $7 an hour, according to Bob Miracle, deputy town manager, finance and administration.
Between Royal Poinciana Way and Dunbar Road, residential parking spaces will be reserved at all times, while ParkMobile parking will be enforced daily from 9 a.m. until midnight.
Town residents with white bumper stickers can park free up to two hours in ParkMobile spaces. Residents must apply to the town for the bumper stickers, which are issued annually for $50.
Palm Beach placard permit holders are not affected by these changes.
After the signs have been installed, there will be a one-week warning period before citations start, the town said.
Fines are $75 for residential-area violations and $60 for commercial areas.
The town encourages anyone with questions to visit the Park in Palm Beach webpage for more details.
Last year, the town began rolling out an expansion of paid parking in its commercial areas. From August until October, new parking signs were installed between Seaview and Hammon avenues.
The change is in step with a seven-point plan approved by the council to address parking and traffic challenges. The town has struggled for years to improve the turnover of free but two-hour time-limited parking spaces in its business districts. This has been especially true on Worth Avenue, where shop employees would often grab the premium spaces that customers desire.
“This is a continuation of the Town Council’s seven-point parking plan,” Miracle said of this latest paid-parking expansion. “Residents, who have the white ParkMobile sticker, will be able to park for free for two hours at any ParkMobile parking space in the North End, just like they can in Midtown.”
With this action, the shift to paid parking is nearly complete, with Seaview Avenue slated for conversion to paid parking later this summer, Miracle said.
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