EVEREST June, 2013 - California Department of Boating and ...

Orange County Coastal Regional Sediment Management Plan
Number of Measures
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
6
0
12
13
3
1
9
8
2
0
32
22
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2003-
2007
Year
Passed Measures
Failed Measures
Figure 3.13 TOT Initiatives in California 2003 through 2007
Parking Fees
By law, California’s beaches are open and free of charge to the public and coastal access has
been an important part of California’s coastal policy. As a result, parking fees are sometimes
discouraged, particularly by the CCC. However in Orange County, parking fees are already a
significant source of revenue for many cities such as Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.
Another significant hurdle is that most city parking fees go to a city’s general fund revenues and
are thus used for overall spending. At a time when tax revenues are shrinking it is likely to be
difficult to move such funds to a dedicated fund for shoreline protection.
However, analysis of parking at Orange County beaches indicates that there are thousands of
free parking spots used by beach visitors throughout the county. Moreover, since many (if not
most) visitors gravitate toward free parking first before using paid parking, the availability of free
parking also reduces the revenue from existing paid parking.
Table 3.14 lists free parking availability by beach in Orange County along with an estimate of
the percentage available for beach parking by site. The final column includes a hypothetical
calculation of revenue from beach visitors if these free parking spots were converted to pay
parking and each meter generates $1000 per year. Under these assumptions, over $5 million
per year could be generated for Orange County coastal maintenance.
There is also another rationale for using parking fees. Since day trippers spend much less than
overnight visitors and much of this spending takes place out of town (e.g., on gas or food), they
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