20 Oct South Padre Island Parking Study Floats Paid Parking, Possible Garages

A parking study presented to the South Padre Island City Council on Oct. 5 ultimately suggested paid parking at the beach, along Gulf Boulevard and in the Arts and Entertainment District, with one or two garages as a possible next step.

The council took no action on the presentation. Per the Brownsville Herald, Mayor Patrick McNulty said the city isn’t planning to act soon on the recommendations and would hold public workshops first.

The council approved the study by the firm Fishbeck on Nov. 19, 2025, along with a $68,280 budget amendment to pay for it. Jon Forster, a parking planner with the firm, presented the findings.

The report includes sample rates. Beach lots would run $1.50 an hour with a $12 daily cap, and Gulf Boulevard would run $1 an hour with a $10 cap, plus $5 overnight. Curbed streets in the Arts and Entertainment District would also be $1 an hour. Gulf-side annual permits would cost residents $25 per car (two max) and non-residents $95, though non-resident spaces wouldn’t be guaranteed. An unpaid meter would bring a $25 citation. For comparison, the study lists Port Aransas at $3 for two hours, Galveston at $2 an hour, Destin, Florida, at $15 a day and Cameron County at $12 a day.

The recommendation comes down to the swing between slow and busy nights. Counts across the areas studied found 194 cars at 9 p.m. on a Thursday in February and 1,596 at 9 p.m. on a Saturday in July. The study found the beach lots and Gulf Boulevard fill up on busy days, while nearby residential streets generally have room. The entertainment district is the weak spot, with too few legal spaces on busy evenings. Its 649 spaces sit in six large private lots, where cars can be towed.

The city owns 1,002 off-street spaces: 300 at beach access points, 497 at the convention center and 205 in lots on the south end. The study says the beach is roughly 300 spaces below what the state requires.

A survey drew 573 responses. Of those, 81% said residential parking is in short supply, 74% of visitors said they walk two blocks or less to their destination and 60% have never ridden Island Metro. About a third of visitors said paying would be worth it to park closer. Only 5% had been ticketed in the past three years, and 65% described enforcement as about right or on the lenient side.

Forster laid out three paths. The first, limited city action, would leave things to private owners, who would add gates, towing and more paved lots. The study says that doesn’t work at the beach, where the state requires public spaces. The second adds paid on-street parking at the beach and in the district while leaving off-street parking to private owners. The third, which Forster recommended, combines paid parking on streets, at the beach and in the district with one or two garages, giving the city control over pricing and enforcement but also more overhead.

Garages come with a price tag. The study puts construction at $45,000 to $60,000 per space and operating costs at $65 to $100 per space each month, and says pay stations alone could top $1 million. Revenue might cover operations, it says, but not construction. It suggests the entertainment district as the place for garages, since a beach-side structure makes less sense when demand is spread over about four miles. Possible funding sources include user fees, the general fund, tax increment financing, the venue tax, assessments and private money.

The plan also calls for finishing curbs, paint and signs on either side of Padre Boulevard, starting with the beach and the district.