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07/16/2019 12:00 AMThe new electronic beach pass system, originally pitched as a more user-friendly system that could help increase revenue, hasn’t had the smoothest of rollouts. Angry and frustrated, more than 75 residents expressed their concerns at a special Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting on July 11 and, while the board made some changes to the system at the meeting, some residents are still looking for the electronic system to be scrapped completely.
Under the new electronic system, once a user is registered, the license plate on a car will become the beach pass, similar to how the state parks run their parking system. Madison residents can go online to register their license plate with the system and pay the standard price for the pass.
For visitors or residents, the system also allowed people go online and either purchase beach time by the hour or with a standard day pass. When a person got to the beach, there was no longer a gate guard checking plates, which town officials hoped will cut down on lines. Town employees—the Beach & Recreation Department summer staff—instead patrol the parking lot with a handheld license plate reader that scans plates to determine if the cars are registered with the town system as a beach pass purchaser.
The system was supposed to be ready to go by Memorial Day but was delayed until just before July 4. When the system went live, lots of people started buying passes—but the complaints started to roll in, too. Conversations on social media took off like wildfire with residents reporting incidents of not being able to find parking, being incorrectly ticketed, and generally frustrated by the system as a whole.
Another key issue for residents was the hourly parking rate. Under the electronic system, anyone could pay $3 an hour to come to the beach. Residents expressed concern that the price wasn’t high enough, allowing more out-of-town folks to come to the beaches and push residents out.
The Rationale
The outcry forced as special meeting of both the Beach & Recreation Commission (BRC) and BOS on July 11. At start of the BOS meeting, BRC Chair Rob Card tried to explain the rationale behind trying this new system in the first place. He said the hope was to offer an electronic registration option, open up hourly parking, cut down on lines at the gate, and generally make the system easier for everyone.
He acknowledged that it hasn’t quite worked out that way.
“When we took on this task, it was really designed to make things easier, which it doesn’t feel that way, and so what came to us was the recommendation to take the current system and prices, and we’re just going to make it easier to use on your phone,” he said.
Card said one of the common suggestions he has heard from residents it to raise the beach prices for people who are non-residents. He said there is a wide range of prices towns use for beach access across the state and said he supports a change if it’s reasonable and what the community wants.
“As I see the public comments that we should raise the prices to keep people out, I’m very concerned because that actually limits what we can do, because...we’re maybe going to open ourselves up to legal ramifications,” he said. “If the entire community says, ‘Keep people out—raise the price,’ OK then let’s do this the right way.”
However, before Card put any possible changes on the table, Selectman Al Goldberg asked if changes were the right way to go.
“Can this be fixed, and is this system worth fixing from a policy point of view and from all the many implementation issues, which you guys are wonderfully struggling with and overcoming one by one?” he said. “But I can’t help but ask the big questions. Are we going down the wrong road here?”
Card said he understood the point Goldberg was making and said that decision isn’t really up to the BRC but should fall to the BOS.
“I think the BOS are ultimately the ones that will make the decision,” Card said. “It would be up for the Beach & Rec Department to operationalize that. But the general question, are we going in the wrong direction, I think what’s been surfaced around...I’ve heard people say they’re willing to pay more, they want more, that they want security, that they want lifeguards. I think there’s a bigger discussion that needs to be had on...What does the BOS want for our beaches, and what is the BOS willing to pay for our beaches? I think that’s the discussion that needs to be had.”
Raise the Prices
Until that level of discussion can be had, the BOS did vote to raise the hourly and daily ticket prices for out-of-town beach visitors. The hourly rate will now rise to $10 and the daily pass is $50 a day Monday to Thursday and $75 a day Friday to Sunday and on holidays. Card said those prices are the same as Clinton and reflect the belief expressed by the community that Madison beaches are worth more than $3 an hour.
The BOS unanimously agreed to raise the prices, however Goldberg said he still had concerns about making sure those prices are enforced. With people paying online and not to a gate guard before entering the beach, he said it’s hard to be sure people are actually paying and/or are paying their parking ticket.
“I think until this community is comfortable with the notion that there will be compliance and enforcement applied equally to everybody, I think it doesn’t matter where we set the rate,” he said. “I think this community needs confidence that, whether you use day cards or other kinds of measures, until we figured this out long-term, that...these rates...will be enforced. These will be real.”
The BOS also moved to extend the enforceable hours at the beaches. Visitors will now have to pay to enter the Surf Club from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at all other beaches.
Continuing Concerns
The BOS and the BRC told the public that these changes are just the first step. Both boards will have to do a lot to keep communicating with the public and plan to hold more meetings in future on this issue.
However, one issue that the BOS could not or would not address was a point raised by several members of the community about the software company itself. Complus Data provides the system being used. Town officials say there was no upfront cost to bring this digital system online; the company providing the software and license plate readers takes a percentage of any permits issued to cover costs. Resident Tom Hansen said that the company has messed up too many time for the town to consider keeping it on.
“This system is way off the charts for what we need,” Hansen said. “Scrap it if you have to. I don’t think you can modify it [the system] to make it work because [Complus is] not in the business of making it easy for you. They’re in business of getting revenue from you. Get rid of it. That’s my idea.”
Residents also pointed out that the app for the system isn’t user-friendly and network connectivity at the Surf Club is spotty on the best day, which only exacerbates the issue. Resident Joan Walker said the board also needs to think about raising the price of the ticket violations.
“You increased the hourly rate to $10 per hour, but there was no increase on the ticket,” she said. “So if I stayed more than four hours, I’ll get the ticket and pay $40, versus what? So you may want to think about doing another resolution in another meeting to increase the ticket cost as well.”
At some point in the conversations on social media and the public meeting, comments were made about closing off Madison beaches to people from out of town. That would fall afoul of the 2001 Connecticut Supreme Court decision in Leydon v. Town of Greenwich, which found a municipality could not exclude non-residents from public spaces.
Walker said that shouldn’t be the focus going forward. She said the town just needs a system that works and that is fair.
“I don’t think anyone’s really saying that we should just have residents only,” she said. “I think everyone’s welcoming. I think we just want to make sure that non-residents are paying a fair share that we’re paying.”