Surf City/North & South Topsail charging to park

Winnie 70

Winnie 70

Ten Pointer
Beginning April 1st will charge to park to use beach....fish, walking over domes, etc. Daily $5 per hr, $20 or $25 per day, $100 per week, or $250 for a yearly pass. You also have to have these passes to fish each section...Surf City, North and South ends. Think I will have somewhere else to drop a line.
 
Infamous1

Infamous1

Eight Pointer
Its going that way everywhere. Oak Island approved it and got so much push back that they did not go through with it. I can see both sides of the issue.
 
ncscrubmaster

ncscrubmaster

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Emerald Isle has decided to charge all summer for there parking lots. Hired an outside company to embezzle sorry collect the money. My understanding is the pier will start charging daily for beach parking also. I love that place but they sure are making it hard on us.
 

nchunter

Twelve Pointer
Good thing the federal government guaranteed, in writing, free and open access when they bought the land for Cape Hatteras National Seashore from private citizens, oh wait...
:mad:
 

FITZH2O

Old Mossy Horns
Winnie 70 said:
Beginning April 1st will charge to park to use beach....fish, walking over domes, etc. Daily $5 per hr, $20 or $25 per day, $100 per week, or $250 for a yearly pass. You also have to have these passes to fish each section...Surf City, North and South ends. Think I will have somewhere else to drop a line.
Click to expand...
Where’s the money going?

Sounds like another government extortion.
 
BigBow

BigBow

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Whatta crock! Outside influence of non-native North Carolinians taking over the state & changing everything. Anyone remember when you could actually walk out on the NC piers without having to pay. Real culture shock when my family moved to South Fl. In the mid-70's & I found out you had to pay just to walk out on the pier. Whaaat?
 
Hunting Nut

Hunting Nut

Old Mossy Horns
Greed. Just plain greed.
I wonder what's gonna happen when people with weekly passes or yearly passes show up and there is no place to park ? They've paid for the right to park their vehicle, so what then ?
 
dlbaile

dlbaile

Ten Pointer
ncscrubmaster said:
Emerald Isle has decided to charge all summer for there parking lots. Hired an outside company to embezzle sorry collect the money. My understanding is the pier will start charging daily for beach parking also. I love that place but they sure are making it hard on us.
Click to expand...
The pier has been charging for beach access in there parking lot for about 8 yrs now.
 
Winnie 70

Winnie 70

Ten Pointer
If parking at pier is free, is parking up and down island free if you are fishing? Several parking lots on north end will probably be paid parking for people using beach (swimming, laying on beach, walking beach, playing with children, etc.) Fisherman using beach...I don't know.
 
Winnie 70

Winnie 70

Ten Pointer
mj1angier said:
Might be cheaper to park away from beach and have Uber come pick you up,lol
Click to expand...
And all my fishing gear.....fish cart, rods,chairs,umbrella,cooler,half dozen kids and one wife.....now let them figure that out....be cheaper to go to fish market for sure but not near as much fun.
 

JONOV

Old Mossy Horns
BigBow said:
Whatta crock! Outside influence of non-native North Carolinians taking over the state & changing everything. Anyone remember when you could actually walk out on the NC piers without having to pay. Real culture shock when my family moved to South Fl. In the mid-70's & I found out you had to pay just to walk out on the pier. Whaaat?
Click to expand...
It's the residents that run the town that decided to pass the law. Not visitors.
 
BigBow

BigBow

Ten Pointer
Contributor
JONOV said:
It's the residents that run the town that decided to pass the law. Not visitors.
Click to expand...
You may be completely right. I dont really know for sure where the Town Council Board Members hail from...transplants or locals? I just hate change after so many years of free access to NC beaches.
 
Matty

Matty

Six Pointer
Contributor
Assuming the $ goes back into the island, infrastructure maintenance, beach renourishment, etc...I don't get the complaints. It's a usage fee on tourists/non residents so that they support the maintenance of the resource that they are enjoying/using. The burden shouldn't be solely on the residents. The annual cost for seashore maintenance for coastal communities has increased many fold over the last decade or two...the money has to come from somewhere and the burden shouldn't be shouldered solely by the locals.

If you want to utilize the beach, be willing to pay to maintain it.
 
Hunting Nut

Hunting Nut

Old Mossy Horns
Matty said:
Assuming the $ goes back into the island, infrastructure maintenance, beach renourishment, etc...I don't get the complaints. It's a usage fee on tourists/non residents so that they support the maintenance of the resource that they are enjoying/using. The burden shouldn't be solely on the residents. The annual cost for seashore maintenance for coastal communities has increased many fold over the last decade or two...the money has to come from somewhere and the burden shouldn't be shouldered solely by the locals.

If you want to utilize the beach, be willing to pay to maintain it.
Click to expand...

So, you're ok paying $150 a year to access each highway in the state outside of your town ?
Before you say "that's different".... no, it really isn't.

Also, my question from before still stands. People are gonna buy these permits, show up to park, and the lot will be full.... so what happens then ????
Who's yard are they gonna park in with the sense of self-entitlement and the excuse of (I paid my money).
Or, is the town gonna claim imminent domain and bulldoze 50 homes to turn into parking lots ?
 
Matty

Matty

Six Pointer
Contributor
Hunting Nut said:
So, you're ok paying $150 a year to access each highway in the state outside of your town ?
Before you say "that's different".... no, it really isn't.

Also, my question from before still stands. People are gonna buy these permits, show up to park, and the lot will be full.... so what happens then ????
Who's yard are they gonna park in with the sense of self-entitlement and the excuse of (I paid my money).
Or, is the town gonna claim imminent domain and bulldoze 50 homes to turn into parking lots ?
Click to expand...

I believe it is extremely different. State highways are funded primarily through state gas tax....if I am utilizing a state highway, I have, in effect, paid for my portion of the maintenance of the highway. Much of the cost of beach renourishment is paid for by the local municipality i.e. the residents/landowners. The residents, however, account for a very small fraction of the overall beach usage.

I vacation in S Topsail 1-2x per year, I have no issue paying this knowing that it is paying for the maintenance of the resource I am there to enjoy. I have been on both sides of the fence as a resident in WB/ILM in the early 2000s when WB parking began to shift from free to fee.

I'm not saying how they are implementing this is optimal, I really don't know enough about their plan. I would push for fees only during tourist season and leave SEP-APR as free. Seasonal permits would not be available to non-residents. If spots are in that short of supply, they will likely be managed with the cost to park...or the ROW will be paved and streetside parking will be developed. I would hope they would not resort to ID, but rather purchasing less desirable properties if lots made more sense than streetside parking.

I'm not a resident or landowner there...only a frequent visitor, so my opinion doesn't count for :poop:, nor should it!
 
Hunting Nut

Hunting Nut

Old Mossy Horns
Matty said:
I believe it is extremely different. State highways are funded primarily through state gas tax....if I am utilizing a state highway, I have, in effect, paid for my portion of the maintenance of the highway. Much of the cost of beach renourishment is paid for by the local municipality i.e. the residents/landowners. The residents, however, account for a very small fraction of the overall beach usage.

I vacation in S Topsail 1-2x per year, I have no issue paying this knowing that it is paying for the maintenance of the resource I am there to enjoy. I have been on both sides of the fence as a resident in WB/ILM in the early 2000s when WB parking began to shift from free to fee.

I'm not saying how they are implementing this is optimal, I really don't know enough about their plan. I would push for fees only during tourist season and leave SEP-APR as free. Seasonal permits would not be available to non-residents. If spots are in that short of supply, they will likely be managed with the cost to park...or the ROW will be paved and streetside parking will be developed. I would hope they would not resort to ID, but rather purchasing less desirable properties if lots made more sense than streetside parking.

I'm not a resident or landowner there...only a frequent visitor, so my opinion doesn't count for :poop:, nor should it!
Click to expand...

Very well thought out response. Well typed, also.
Some of the areas were supposed to be public and free.

In all honesty, it probably won't impact me. I don't head that way anymore. Well, not in several years.
I understand the paid parking around WB and other areas. The permits will lead to problems and even more overcrowding and overflow problems. It's gonna be a no win situation in my opinion.
Especially with the way people are acting these days.

What I really fear is the localization "rights" of townships to charge. I see this type thing getting out of hand and starting to charge these type "access fees" for the public all over. It's not that far of a leap to see toll roads popping up all over the place, or counties charging for access to boat ramps, parks, and so on.

The simple thought that nothing public has free access raises my eyebrow, in a worrisome way.
 

FITZH2O

Old Mossy Horns
Matty said:
Assuming the $ goes back into the island, infrastructure maintenance, beach renourishment, etc...I don't get the complaints. It's a usage fee on tourists/non residents so that they support the maintenance of the resource that they are enjoying/using. The burden shouldn't be solely on the residents. The annual cost for seashore maintenance for coastal communities has increased many fold over the last decade or two...the money has to come from somewhere and the burden shouldn't be shouldered solely by the locals.

If you want to utilize the beach, be willing to pay to maintain it.
Click to expand...
Tourist do pay for most of the maintenance there. If it wasn’t for tourist and visitors, there wouldn’t be 💩. Locals can’t support the businesses and property taxes. Couple that with the fact that ~65% of topsail renourishment is federally funded and half of the remaining 35% is state funded, I’d say visitors and non-visitors alike, more than cover their share of the maintenance.
 
Matty

Matty

Six Pointer
Contributor
Hunting Nut said:
What I really fear is the localization "rights" of townships to charge. I see this type thing getting out of hand and starting to charge these type "access fees" for the public all over. It's not that far of a leap to see toll roads popping up all over the place, or counties charging for access to boat ramps, parks, and so on.

The simple thought that nothing public has free access raises my eyebrow, in a worrisome way.
Click to expand...

I appreciate that view. Privatization of a public resource is BS. I hadn't looked at it through that lens, and you're right it's a slippery slope. That could very well shift my opinion on it. For now, I'm torn. I also understand the FITZH2O's comments on the cost share of the renourishment efforts...while the percentages tell a story, the project cost of ~ $1 billion sheds additional light. I also understand the comments regarding having an opinion due to being a state and federal taxpayer, but I still feel the nonresident users of the resource should be paying a larger share than someone living inland that will never visit...but that may be getting into the weeds for this discussion.

I guess the question I would pose to others that are crying "extortion" would be, "how do you propose these municipalities fund this?" They are already raising property and occupancy taxes on the island to support it. Do you ask for more from state and fed sources, understanding these are more of an indiscriminate tax primarily on folks that will never visit TI? Or do you find a way to target actual users of the resource and have them pay a larger share to maintain a resource that they enjoy? Do you raise property taxes to the point that only the ultra wealthy can afford property(this will likely lead to many other issues)? Or do we let nature take it's course and watch beach migration and rising sea levels do their thing?

I'm sure there are other creative ways of doing this that may be far more effective and agreeable than parking, but I am drawing a blank. Maybe if they could enforce the parking code they have and start ticketing @$$holes parking on people's lawns, they would be off to a good start $ wise!

I'd be interested in the thoughts of an actual resident, for now it's a lot of us that enjoy visiting TI and understandably would prefer not to pay through the nose for parking trading thoughts.

My father is an elected official in local GOV (not coastal, CLT suburb), I'm gonna ask for his take on this. For context: this is his "retirement hobby" and first foray into government...so he's not made the transformation to swamp dwelling politician...yet! :ROFLMAO: He would consider himself very conservative with some libertarian leanings so this topic in particular ought to be very interesting to him.
 
Winnie 70

Winnie 70

Ten Pointer
If we have to pay to fish by paying to park, I will be taking my business to a beach where I can access that beach with a 4WD vehicle and pay an annual fee for a beach access with said vehicle. A $150-$200 a year pass for my vehicle would be cheaper than using Topsail paid parking if I want to fish for several times a year. In the fall/winter months it would be very expensive if one fishes a lot.
 

JONOV

Old Mossy Horns
Hunting Nut said:
What I really fear is the localization "rights" of townships to charge. I see this type thing getting out of hand and starting to charge these type "access fees" for the public all over. It's not that far of a leap to see toll roads popping up all over the place, or counties charging for access to boat ramps, parks, and so on.

The simple thought that nothing public has free access raises my eyebrow, in a worrisome way.
Click to expand...
I could be mistaken, but I thought that the state Turnpike authority has to be involved for tolls to be charged.

As far as the boat ramps, the WRC BAA's are all free. If I go to Jordan lake I can spend $7 to launch at the state park, or for free at another ramp. Everywhere I've ever lived or fished, it's a similar setup. Some ramps are free to launch, some you pay. On the whole, the one's I've paid at have been reasonable, or at the very least have better amenities than the free ones.

If I want to fish at Lake Wheeler, I have to pay.

Parking fees? I don't like them, and the beach towns really stick it to you, but how is that different than paying to park in downtown Raleigh or downtown Wilmington?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top