Free parking in Rehoboth Beach is getting harder to find.
This summer, the City is requiring residents and non-residents with motorized scooters to purchase a $40 seasonal parking permit to park in non-metered areas.
According to City Manager Gregory Ferrese, Rehoboth merchants complained about scooters and mopeds parking on sidewalks, and using bike racks.
The $40 fee allows the city to dedicate parking spaces for scooters.
“There will be designated parking spaces on the ocean block on the majority of the streets in Rehoboth designating scooter parking only - and we have approximately at any one time at least 180 parking spaces for scooters,” said Ferrese.
A scooter decal is not required to use metered parking, and all vehicles, permit or not, are required to pay for meter spots.
Ferres adds this will be the second year visitors can pay for metered parking of any vehicle using their cell phone.
All 2,200 metered spaces in Rehoboth Beach are tied into Park Mobile, which has toll free number to call with payment information. And 15 minutes before the meter runs out, users will be contacted once with an offer to top off the meter from any location using their phone.
The new technology was introduced last season, and says it was well-received.
“We generated about $422,000 from that system," said Feresse. "We collected $2,723,000 [total from meters], and from that amount, 422,000 was from the Park mobile System.”
The meters continue to accept quarters, but do not accept credit cards.