Greenwich Beach Fee Increases Approved

Photo: An empty Greenwich Point Park on a rainy fall day at low tide. Credit: Barbara Heins.

In an effort to reduce overcrowding by summer beachgoers at Greenwich Point Park, the Board of Selectmen has approved an increase the daily beach pass and parking fees for non-residents for the 2016 season.

After much discussion on whether the measures — including assigning a police officer to patrol the beach on weekends, and to staff the gatehouse when gates open rather than 8 a.m. would alleviate overcrowding, the board voted 2-1 to approve the measures. Democrat Drew Marzullo said he voted against the proposals because he wasn’t convinced the measures would resolve the issues.

The daily beach pass for non-cardholders would increase $1 to $7 per day. The daily parking fee for vehicles not issued a town parking pass would increase from $25 to $35 per day. And for residents, who receive free parking stickers for their vehicles registered in town, the seasonal beach pass fee will increase from $32 to $33.

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Parks and Recreation Department Director Joseph Siciliano said the increased daily parking fee “would bring us more in line with our peer communities.” He said the Town of Westport charges a $40 weekday parking fee and $50 on weekends. “It doesn’t matter how many people are in the vehicle or how many you squeeze into a van,” Siciliano said.

The increase of fees to access Greenwich Point, more affectionately known as Tod’s Point, would cost a non-resident or non-beach card holding visitor $42 to spend the day at the 147-acre park on the Old Greenwich waterfront.

Overcrowding issues came to forefront this past summer because “We had perfect storm for beach attendance. Some of the things we’re recommending will address this,” Siciliano said.

“People love to go to their beach on a Sunday. There’s only some much real estate and at high tide” the overcrowding was exacerbated, Siciliano added.

Siciliano said department statistics indicate there were approximately 12,000 visitor parking passes sold during the 2015 season. With the new parking fees, the additional revenues would more than cover the assignment of a Greenwich Police officer at the park on weekends from Memorial Day through Labor Day as well as additional early morning staffing of the gatehouse.

First Selectman Peter Tesei said, “People were smart. They found the loophole and took advantage of it.” The beach opens daily at sunrise, however, during the beach season, it is not staffed until 8 a.m., and there wasn’t a way to determine whether visitors had proper passes once they entered the park.

Police would be responsible for enforcing parking regulations, as well as traffic laws and other regulations.