MUSKEGON, MI – The city of Muskegon will move forward with a plan to begin charging out-of-towners to park at Pere Marquette beach this summer.

On Tuesday, Feb. 11, the city commission voted to execute a purchase order on 20 kiosks from the company Flowbird to be installed along Beach Street up through Margaret Drake Elliott Park which will collect fees from non-Muskegon residents visiting Muskegon’s flagship beach.

The city’s planning department will also draft an ordinance amendment to allow the city to implement a fee system of $5 a day, and $7 on Saturdays. Visitors may also purchase a yearly pass for $20. City residents would not have to pay.

Three of the kiosks would be at boat launches, and the remaining 17 would be for car parking.

The vote was 5 to 2, with Mayor Stephen Gawron, Vice Mayor Eric Hood, and commissioners Teresa Emory, Michael Ramsey, and Dan Rinsema-Sybenga voting in favor, and commissioners Willie German, Jr. and Ken Johnson voting against.

The potential locations of parking kiosks at Muskegon's Pere Marquette beach. The city is considering installing 20 kiosks for non-city residents to pay to park, beginning this summer. Courtesy City of Muskegon.

The project will cost an estimated $169,510 in its first year, according to the commission’s meeting packet, and is expected to bring in a minimum of $123,090 per year.

Costs include $132,825 for car parking kiosks and $19,635 for the boat launches, inclusive of installation and training fees, with the remaining costs going toward back office fees, parking passes and resident stickers, and to pay interns working part-time at $14 an hour for enforcement and administrative assistance.

The revenue from parking is meant to offset the cost of beach maintenance, planning director Mike Franzak previously told MLive. The city spent an estimated $475,000 on beach maintenance and upkeep in fiscal year 2016-17.

The revenue would also feed into the city’s broader park system, Gawron said at a public work session on Monday.

Franzak has previously said these estimates are conservative. According to the agenda, they do not take into account off-peak time fees collected or enforcement-related ticket fees.

Flowbird, the proposed vendor, is a French company with U.S. headquarters in New Jersey. As proposed, their kiosks would accept credit cards and coins, and give out tickets for display on a dashboard. According to city manager Frank Peterson, the city is expected to expand cell coverage to the beach in the next few years. At that point, the kiosks can be converted for mobile use at a cost of about $650, according to information shared at Monday’s public work session.

Commissioners debating the proposal this week weighed concerns about handicap accessibility, maintaining beach access for low-income people, and ease of implementation and use.

Ramsey was one of several to express general support for the project while suggesting that the city take more time to iron out logistical details before implementation.

“While I support paid parking, I am just concerned that we are rushing into this,” he said. “I’m still not comfortable with all the conversation that we’re having about all the ‘what-ifs’.”

At Monday’s work session, Peterson said that one reason to implement this now is to capitalize on the fact that erosion is eating away at other beaches across the shoreline. Pere Marquette is therefore likely to be a stronger draw to out-of-towners, he said.

Speaking before the commission’s vote on Tuesday, Ramsey also raised concerns about the impact that paid parking would have on residents living near the beach.

“I’m still super concerned about...the further congestion to neighborhoods that are already congested," he said. "We’re alleviating the stress of them having to pay for parking, but when people are parked in their front yards, there will be a completely different battle up here.”

Neighbors to the beach will receive residential parking passes, according to Franzak.

At Monday’s work session, he also said that residents can call the non-emergency police line to express complaints about unauthorized parking outside of their homes.

Read more on MLive:

Paid parking proposed for Muskegon’s Pere Marquette beach

High water levels force popular Lake Michigan beer festival off beach

70 beach parking spots to close for Muskegon roundabout construction