Franklin County agrees to tighten parking rules for Alligator Point

Franklin county Commissioners have approved new parking rules for Alligator Point.

The county agreed last week to create no parking zones at sites along Alligator Point Road and Bald Point Road.

Parking is a growing problem at Alligator Point because there aren’t many places to park, and visitors tend to take liberties once all the legal parking spaces are filled.

There have been complaints of beach goers parking on dunes, vegetation, and even private property, including people's driveways.

The problem is worst near public beach access points where there are an average of 10 parking spaces for the public – but sometimes 30 or 40 cars that need to park especially during the summer months.

Until last week the sheriff’s department didn’t have an ordinance to stop people from parking in unacceptable areas, but the new ordinance will give them the power to write tickets or even have cars towed away.

People who violate the rule can face a 25 dollar ticket for a first offense, and possibly more stringent punishments for multiple violations.

For a while most people will get warnings to let them know that the new parking rules are in place.

County Commissioners say they don’t want to run visitors away from the area, but they would like to see more of them go to Bald Point State Park which has plenty of parking as well as facilities like public restrooms. 

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