NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — New Smyrna Beach leaders have approved a plan that would eliminate city parking passes for beach lots.
If it’s approved by Volusia County leaders, you’ll only need one beach pass to access all lots.
The Park Volusia program began in October 2024 to provide Volusia County residents with free parking on the sand and at off-beach lots, but New Smyrna Beach still maintained its own parking program, creating confusion for both residents and visitors.
“I didn’t know you needed two,” said beachgoer, Desiree.
“I’d rather be able to pay for just one pass rather than pay for one spot here and not be able to use the pass I already paid for for the year,” said beachgoer Jace Gracey.
The city is now one step closer to making that happen. A plan was recently approved to dissolve the New Smyrna Beach lots and combine them with the county. Beachgoers said it just makes sense, considering only one pass is needed to park anywhere from Ponce Inlet all the way up to Ormond-By-The-Sea.
“You only need one everywhere else, but they just like to be special here,” said Gracey.
City leaders say there are direct costs to make the switch, but there could be a slight reduction in parking citation revenue. The city would also lose roughly $17,000 per year by discontinuing the sale of resident and non-resident passes.
However, a spokesperson told us that the amount is relatively small compared with the benefits of providing people with a unified pass.
“Yeah, it would be easier to just have one that covers everything,” said Desiree.
“I mean, they’d also get a lot more tourism here if people realized they could use the same pass anywhere,” said Gracey.
The county council will vote on this plan in August.
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