MARCO ISLAND, Fla. — The Marco Island Planning Advisory Board is considering approving a local parking ordinance that would allow public parking at churches, multi-family duplexes and condo complexes along South Collier Boulevard.
“I know that I have gotten probably several hundreds of emails from citizens and I think one or two are in favor of the proposal and the rest were all opposed,” said Greg Folley, the Chairman of the Marco Island City Council, who opposed the proposal.
The ordinance would allow each property to have a final say in whether or not they allow a pay-to-park system on their land.
“I hope my colleagues will listen to the public on this one because it’s so lopsided against the proposal that they should pay attention,” Folley said.
The Marco Island City Council voted 4-3 to move forward to research the plan back in September. A meeting was expected to discuss the proposal today but was postponed until January 5 due to a lack of public notice prior to the meeting.
A final vote would need to be cast by city council.
“We chose Marco Island because it’s a beautiful island and it’s a very quiet peaceful island with great little businesses, weather, that’s why we moved here. We want peace, we want quiet. We want beautiful nature,” said Mike Josephs, who lives on the island.
The Planning Advisory Board meeting is public and comments are encouraged.
“Our beauty, our quiet, our traffic, our safety is going to be compromised,” Josephs said.