Residents Not Happy With County’s Beach Parking Solutions

CHARLOTTE, NC– “I think it’s a band aid; someone said lipstick on a pig I think that was probably well said”

Angry residents living near the new Ramsey Creek Park Beach say they aren’t sold on the County’s changes to fix their traffic congestion problem, not to mention quality of life change.

“I can’t even get out of my driveway”

The county met with angry residents last week and went back to the drawing board to bring new ideas.

One change; a rate hike. The cost for a car to park would go up from five to ten dollars and a 5 dollar fee for walk-ins. Second, working with CATS to shuttle hundreds in from remote parking at no charge.

“Our goal is to try and reduce the walk ins and reduce the traffic we want to say ‘hey if you ride the bus it’s for free you get to park its for free.'” said Greg Clemmer of Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation.

But residents say free beach and shuttle will only draw larger and rowdier crowds.

“If there’s no value if it’s free for people coming then there’s no value given to that experience and it will be treated as such ”

Residents say there needs to be a charge, there needs to be a limit on capacity, and if not the beach needs to be closed which county officials say is not an option right now.

“Obviously we have some serious problems that need to be addressed we’re gradually addressing them as we listen to them we’ll see how they work and then we’ll keep fixing them.” said County Commissioner At Large Pat Cotham.