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Boca Raton looking to add more parking meters

City Council will vote on proposal Tuesday
Posted at 10:01 PM, Jul 23, 2020
and last updated 2020-07-24 00:27:02-04

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Stacey Bradley isn't happy to hear that the city of Boca Raton is in the process of implementing its second parking meter zone in town.

"That's not fair," she said. "It makes going out and spending money and keeping the businesses, it makes it harder, because now you have to pay for parking."

The theory behind the project is about helping Boca Raton businesses in a tough time.

"The reason we do it is to get turnover in the downtown parking spots," city council member Andy Thomson said.

Thomson said a parking meter zone with 250 meters already exists in the southern part of downtown.

This new zone would consist of an additional 243 on-street parking spaces with meters.

The area involved includes West Royal Palm Road and East Palmetto Road.

"And it's going to cost something like $650,000 to buy the meters and to install them," Thomson said. "And then it takes several years for us to be able to dig out of that hole, just to break even."

Justin Leger thinks it's a good idea.

"I can see how that impacts businesses and lost revenue and inconvenience others that just want to use the business," Leger said.

The City Council will vote on the proposal Tuesday.