West Marin Beach towns may raise parking fine

On sunny days, urbanites flock towards pristine beaches of West Marin for breezy relief from town lifetime.

But now a bit of town living could possibly follow them: car parking fines believed for being among the steepest of their sort in the nation.

The Marin County Board of Supervisors is poised to raise car parking fines from $63 to $99 in Stinson Beach, Bolinas and Muir Beach at the request of nearby merchants and fire chiefs, who say hordes of illegally parked vehicles on weekends pose a potentially lethal security hazard.

"When it is hot out, persons want for getting towards the beach and they'll park wherever they want. They block roads, they block driveways," mentioned Kenny Stevens, chief of Stinson Beach's volunteer fire department. "If there was a fire, we'd lose some houses because of this."

By comparison, the fine for airport parking in fundamental "no-parking" zones is $70 in San Francisco; $65 in midtown Manhattan; and $30 in Monterey, yet another coastal tourist town.

The supervisors strategy to vote Tuesday on legislation that would allow the raise, then hold a public hearing June 8 about the enhance itself.

The new fines could be imposed in areas marked with no-parking symptoms, which contains hundreds of locations along Highway 1, Panoramic Highway and side streets within the 3 picturesque coastal communities.

On Sunday, one San Francisco surfer mentioned he wasn't fazed by the proposed fines - as prolonged as his car doesn't get towed.

"You do not want to get standing with your wet suit all day wondering how you're likely to get household," mentioned Dave Alexander, who operates at Wise Surfboards in San Francisco.

Alexander said he and his close friends couldn't afford the old $63 tickets, either. As a result, they're more apt to arrive early to snag one on the number of legal locations.

Stinson Seaside includes a 1,260-space airport parking great deal in close proximity to the beach front and a handful of hundred legal spaces in close proximity to Sea Drift and downtown. But most other areas are illegal, while using the Marin County Sheriff's Department issuing tickets seven days a week to scofflaws.

On busy weekends, the roads may be so clogged with visitors and illegally parked autos that fire trucks and ambulances can't achieve their destinations, Stevens mentioned.

A couple of years ago, he said, somebody broke their ankle and had to be airlifted by helicopter since the roads had been blocked.

The very good boost is backed by county Supervisor Steve Kinsey, who represents West Marin. The proceeds would go to the sheriff's office to beef up airport parking enforcement inside coastal region.

Bolinas has even much less legal parking, an estimated 250 legal spots. Site visitors to the famously secretive town - in which residents routinely rip down the Bolinas turnoff signs on Highway 1 - are left airport parking by hydrants, on corners along with other problematic spots.

"Come the end of summer, when it gets being wildfire season, we have the hair up for the back of our necks," mentioned Steve Marcotte, a volunteer firefighter in Bolinas. "We get incredibly concerned about airport parking."

Tourists aren't the only ones stymied by restrictions. On sunny weekends, Bolinas locals typically can't come across legal airport parking downtown and are compelled to possibility a airport parking ticket or drive 20 miles to Mill Valley if they need provisions, proclaimed Abe Amoroso, the owner in the Grand Hotel in Bolinas along with a board member from the Bolinas Community Public Utility District.

"The trouble is that neighborhood people stop coming downtown, so companies are pressured to cater to vacationers," he mentioned. "That is not in line with all the character from the town."

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