DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Whether you’re looking for street parking or public parking in a nearby lot, parking in Daytona Beach’s Main Street is sparse.

For the first time since 2008, the city of Daytona Beach is conducting a parking study to address the growing need for parking beachside as demand and development rise.

What You Need To Know

  • Daytona Beach commissioners will approve a 6-month study to create more parking spaces on Main Street

  • The last parking study of this kind was conducted back in 2008 and determined that there was a parking adequacy of more than 2,300 spaces

  • However, the study did not account for big events like Bike Week and Biketoberfest

  • The new study will assess parking needs during non-event and event times

“We’re at the point where we have to do something to determine where the parking is located. Sometimes the parking is there, we just don’t know where it’s at, the patrons don’t know where it’s at,” said Director of Redevelopment and Neighboring Services for the city of Daytona Beach, Ken Thomas.

The 17-year-old study revealed that there were over 2,300 parking spaces available at the time, but the study did not account for big events like Bike Week and Biketoberfest.

However, that will change this year.

“Biketoberfest is later on during the year so we want to capture the parking needs for that event so it’s going to be a 6-month process,” adds Thomas.

Above all, Thomas says there shouldn’t be a lack of parking on non-event days, since many businesses rely on parking availability, including restaurants like Main Street’s new French restaurant, 35 Bistro & Wine Bar.

“Parking is very hard to find here like the parking in front of us is like you have to park, you have to pay a dollar for an hour, and then the signage is very weak like you cannot even see them and some people get tickets,” said owner of 35 Bistro & Wine Bar, Farah Coopman.

Coopman says lack of parking has already caused her to lose customers in her first year of being open.

Not to mention, her own staff is forced to find parking wherever they can.

She says it can be a hassle during weekdays when most spots are already occupied by beachgoers.

But parking isn’t a struggle for everyone there. Daytona Beach resident Paul Linnell says he and his wife have found a way to make it work for them.

“We tend to arrive early and also leave early, for several reasons. But it just makes it easier. Bike week.. that’s a little different, that’s a whole different subject,” explains Linnell.

Residents and business owners alike say the city’s parking study is a positive step in the right direction to addressing the problem once and for all. 

Daytona Beach commissioners are set to approve this parking study at the next city commission meeting next Wednesday, Feb. 19.

Funds for the study are available in the Main Street Redevelopment Fund.

Parking counts will be conducted during five different time frames:

1. Non-event mid-week all day (7 a.m.-8 p.m.)

2. Non-event Friday all day (8 a.m.-11 p.m.)

3. Non-event Saturday all day (8 a.m.-8 p.m.)

4. Event (TBD) (4 hours)

5. Sunday all day (9 a.m.- 6 p.m.)

The transportation engineering and planning consulting firm assisting with the study, Kittelson and Associates, will provide a “high-level cost-benefit analysis for up to three (3) potential parking garage sites in the CRA. For each of the sites, the analysis will determine land value, estimate the number of spaces for parking structure with a given number of floors, estimate the cost for structure, evaluate the potential for other development on the same block, and provide the opportunity cost," per the city's agenda.