Some beach towns in the east have decided to continue charging for beach access parking this summer.
The town of Emerald Isle says they will charge$10 for all day parking again at the eastern and western ocean regional access on weekends and holidays, starting around Easter. Mayor Trace Cooper says Atlantic Beach will also continue to charge for beach access parking this year starting sometime in mid may.
"Our program will charge 5 dollars for a half day and 10 dollars for a whole day and then we'll probably pick a couple of weekdays where we don't charge at all and have free parking in the middle of the week," said Mayor Cooper.
Atlantic Beach brought in $120,000 dollars last year and Emerald Isle brought in $11,000. Both towns say the funds were used to maintain beach facilities including covering the cost of lifeguards and maintenance.
