City of Naples considers making changes to parking ordinance to help with increase in neighborhood street parking

The City of Naples is taking a look at its current parking ordinance as some advocate to get rid of street parking altogether.

Naples Police Chief Tom Weschler says there are dangers to street parking. The road should have enough room for traffic to go in both directions, but cars parked on both sides of the street often make that impossible. According to Weschler, this is a safety hazard if an emergency arises.

Naples is a paradise that comes with a parking problem, and it is an everyday occurrence. Cars and trucks tend to fill up designated parking places, garages and lots fairly quickly, resulting in more people leaving their cars in nearby neighborhoods.

Shelly Voumard, a visitor to Naples from New Jersey, says she wouldn’t have minded paying for parking closer to the beach if that were an option today.

“My daughter and I drove around for about half an hour looking for parking… we finally did park in a residential area all the way back because there’s no place to park… no parking lots, no public parking lots… they were all full,” Voumard said.

Weschler says this is dangerous and wants the Naples City Council to review and consider making changes to the city’s parking ordinance.

“Just creates ​a lot of problems,” Weschler said.

“That is a problem,” said Charles Shreve, who lives on 10th Avenue in Naples. “Unfortunately, we did have a bad accident on 10th near 3rd and 4th a couple of weeks ago, and the fire trucks had a hard time getting there, and it needs to be addressed.”

Shreve’s residence is within walking distance of the beach. He wants something to be done and fast.

“People find beach parking difficult, so they just take it upon themselves to just park on the front lawn of our condo,” Shreve said. “And we have been trying to put up ‘no parking’ signs, and it doesn’t stop them.”

Weschler says he gets quite a few calls about cars parked in front of people’s homes but his officers are currently powerless to make any changes.

“Sends a bad message to our residents who have really nice houses, pay taxes, and people are allowed to park in front of their house and inconvenience them,” Weschler said.

“I’m all in favor of less congestion; Naples is supposed to be stress-free,” Shreve said.