Flagler Beach Will Seek Bids for Paid Parking System as It Parallels Past Decades of Idle Talk

Brace yourself. It’s actually happening. After talking about it for three decades, and 11 years after a committee that had met for two years had recommended it, Flagler Beach is about to issue a request for qualified companies to propose a paid parking system for the city. 

The request will be issued on June 1. Flagler Beach residents would be exempt. Palm Coast residents, who account for the majority of visitors to the island, would not be. (See the draft RFQ here.)

“It’s just the first step in a 13-to-15-year process,” City Manager Dale Martin said. 

“Or longer,” Commission Chair Eric Cooley said. 

Based on the timeline Martin submitted, paid parking could be in place in early 2027. But it’s not a done deal. In a reflection of the touchiness of the issue, the commission doesn’t want to frame the RFQ in those terms. “I want to make a statement to the public, because I know how this is going to get portrayed in the media,” Cooley said, anticipating that the public reaction to Thursday’s decision will be that the commission has already approved paid parking. Not the case, he said. 

“You cannot make a decision until you have the data,” Cooley said. “So we can’t even decide if paid parking is the right thing for us until we get them in front of us. Have active, real discussions, cover the nuts and bolts, see if this is the right thing for the city, because I know how this is going to come off. It’s exactly what you said. ‘Commissioner Cooley said we’re going to  have paid parking starting tomorrow.’” 

“We’re starting our investigation into paid parking,” Mayor Patti King said. 

Previous city commissions got cold feet when it came time to choose a system. This commission appears more intent on making it happen. It listed paid parking at or near the top of its priorities when it met for a day-long goal-setting session last month. And when fewer people were tuned into the session, which was not broadcast on YouTube, as regular commission meetings are. 

Martin heard the message at the goal-setting session. On Thursday, he submitted a proposed “request for qualifications,” or RFQ, the formal document governments’ procurement divisions use to work toward selecting a qualified company to provide the service. 

“I think it’s great that this is finally before us,” Commissioner Scott Spradley said. “I’ve been saying for several years that I was on that paid parking committee seven or eight years ago. But I looked at this thing. It was actually 13 years ago when that paid parking committee was formed, and it was a different ball game back then.” The committee was formed in 2013 and submitted its findings in 2015. 

Back then, three companies visited the city to study the feasibility of a paid system. It was all based on “stick” or poled parking meters. That’s no longer necessary now that it takes little more than phone apps. 

But something could give the commission and the lawsuit-averse Spradley–an attorney who’d rather sue than be sued–cold feet after all. 

Kerry Lutz, a retired attorney, filed the lawsuit on March 3 in the Southern District of Florida against Palm Beach, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, Delray Beach and Fort Lauderdale. He also named three  companies: Parkmobile, Paybyphone US, and One Parking, plus “John Does 1-75,” signifying “additional Florida municipalities and third-party technology providers.” 

Lutz claims the systems lack uniform signage, violate Florida’s Digital Bill of Rights, and violate due process, among other charges. Some of the arguments echo claims against red-light traffic cameras and third-party enforcement, which led many Florida cities to dismantle the cameras, Palm Coast among them. (See the Lutz lawsuit’s exhibits with numerous pictures illustrating his claims.)

Martin noted the lawsuit in his briefing to city commissioners. He’s following it “with interest.” But he’s been through paid parking implementation before, when he was a city manager in Fernandina Beach. “They finally did move forward to implement it. It’s been rough up there,” he said, but noted that paid parking is flexible enough that it can be suspended, and lends itself to flexible parking and surge pricing. The problem in Fernandina Beach is the forest of signs that have gone up, polluting the town’s historic neighborhoods. “There’s been some significant pushback in that community,” he said. “There’s some challenge. It’s not going to be, let’s roll this out and everything’s going to work perfectly.”

“Volusia has a very well done program. It’s polished, it works,” Cooley said. He is interested in the flexibility of the system. 

The request for qualifications would be published on June 1. There would be an optional site visit for any interested companies on June 12. Any questions would be due by June 19, and the responses to the request due by July 2. The city administration’s evaluation committee would review the submissions on July 16 and rank the responses. On Aug. 11, the selected contractor would appear before the City Commission at a dedicated workshop. If the commission agrees, the administration would then enter into negotiations with the company for a contract. 

“This is not their business plan. We are not even asking for their business plan,” Martin said. Not yet. The formal agreement will take 90 to 120 days, at a minimum, to flesh out the details, from employee parking to special events to other flexibility-demanding options. 

“We are probably still six months out from the time that you tell staff to enter in discussions with them and whether discussions are fruitful or not,” Martin said. “But something would have to come back to you to formalize the agreement anyway before we move forward with that.”

The company would have an initial five-year term, although that’s negotiable. Commissioner R.J. Santore wanted to ensure that the scope of the RFQ includes a reference to the fact that Flagler Beach residents will not be charged for parking. The RFQ puts the private company in charge of issuing citations. 

“I’m getting all kinds of phone calls and emails asking, what’s the status of the RFQ?” Martin said. “It hasn’t been published yet, but it will be.” He intends to send it to as many parking companies as he knows. If the RFQ doesn’t generate the sort of responses the commission is looking for, commissioners are prepared to re-issue it. 

For all their caution about not wanting to appear as if they’d approved a paid-parking system, commissioners nevertheless sounded–as they had sounded at the goal-setting session–quite eager to get to that point.