VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Free off-season parking has limitations at the Oceanfront in Virginia Beach right now.
Some business owners told 13News Now it’s confusing patrons, even seeing a few of their customers’ cars towed away Thursday night.
Now parking confusion on 8th Street is getting cleared up.
“Some of the signs were tampered with,” said Virginia Beach City Spokesperson Tiffany Russell. “There were cars that were towed.”
‘No parking’ start hours on the sign, out front of The Shack on 8th Street, were not visible. Russell said four cars got towed on Thursday.
She said the hours should say no parking from 2 p.m. to 11 a.m.
“The signage does clearly state that if you are parked here past those hours; towing would be enforced,” Russell said. “But when signs get tampered with, we understand how difficult that can be.”
The Shack owner Mike Standing said seeing his customers’ cars towed didn’t sit right with him. Standing posted on Facebook that he would reimburse them. In a statement he told 13News Now:
“Hopefully, this incident is the final wake-up call that we needed to affect change. We are in a resort city and we should be making sure all guests are welcome. I am confident our city manager and his team that they will make changes in how we welcome our residents and guests."
Sand Bar and Chemistry owner Billy Baldwin said off-season parking rules are confusing, but he believes city leaders will work on the issues.
“There needs to be parking for locals to come down there to visit the businesses and restaurants,” Baldwin said. “There needs to be clear signs on when you can park and not park.”
Russell said free parking hours are limited below 17th Street because city leaders are preparing for holiday lights on the boardwalk.
“Simply because of the cueing factor with cars lining up to get to the holiday lights,” Russell said. “It is a lot of volume down at the resort area.”
On Friday afternoon, crews changed out the damaged sign on 8th Street. Russell said resort management is making it right.
“Going to work with those individuals who were towed to reimburse them for that,” Russell said.
There are plenty of parking meter spaces scattered across the resort area, too. City officials say most of those spots become free again on October 31.
Check here for details on free parking limitations on Atlantic Avenue.
