Councilor wants paid parking at Willard Beach for non-residents
Jun. 10—The city of South Portland is considering charging people from out of town to park at Willard Beach as early as next summer.
On Thursday, Councilor Natalie West will request that the City Council set up a workshop to discuss the potential parking change. This is a preliminary step, and at least two other councilors must support this workshop for it to move forward.
In her request, West argued that the city needs to identify a revenue source to maintain Willard Beach, and that it is appropriate that non-residents contribute to covering these costs. She recommended converting the Willard Beach parking lot, which has approximately 60 parking spaces, and the Willard Hose parcel, which could potentially fit 75 parking spaces, into paid parking lots for non-residents.
She also proposed the creation of a seven-person subcommittee with two councilors and members from the Conservation, Economic Development and the Bike-Ped committees to look into the practicalities of instituting paid parking for non-residents.
The Willard Beach Master Plan, a comprehensive document that was approved by the City Council in 2023, first recommended the idea of paid parking for non-residents. This document presented a number of considerations for the implementation of paid parking: the need for additional staff, the purchase of residential stickers, the installation of a digital parking machine and the bounds for which the paid parking should extend within the neighborhood.
Approval of the master plan stipulated that if the city wanted to move forward with any of the suggestions, they would need to bring it forth in the workshopping process. If approved on Thursday, that process would begin.
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