Beach Parking Project

In 2020, the City of Lewes created a Beach Parking Ad Hoc Committee to review the on-street parking on Lewes Beach between Savannah Road and Roosevelt Inlet. This Committee made a series of recommendations that the Mayor and City Council reviewed at their meeting on February 11, 2021. Mayor and City approved several of the recommendations, including “The City should favorably consider a permit system during high season on Lewes Beach, which includes designation of public parking spots and enforcement, with many details to be worked out including capacity, eligibility, and cost (if any).” Mayor and City Council referred this recommendation to staff to gather more information.

Staff met throughout 2021 and worked on the implementation of the recommendations and evaluating how a permit system could work. A potential delineation plan was developed that included existing spaces that could be delineated, as well as spaces that could be realized if encroachments were removed. In January 2022, staff held a workshop, including a series of online questions, to gain public feedback on parking delineation, permits, and the creation of cluster mailboxes. Over 200 people participated in the workshop, and over 400 comments were submitted. The City implemented some interim measures for the 2022 season, noting that a thoughtful review of the comments would take time. The comments have been compiled and organized by topic to make them easier to review.

In January 2023, staff presented recommendations for how a permit system could function to Mayor and City Council. After hearing these recommendations and comments from the public, Mayor and City Council set a public workshop to accept public comment for Monday, January 30, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. in the Rollins Center Meeting Room.

GMB, the City's engineering firm performed an analysis of potential parking spaces in the area. The potential parking areas were broken into several maps for viewing.