REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - On, October 20th at the Rehoboth Beach Mayors and Commissioners meeting, the Parking Department proposed changing the parking citation appeal window from 30 days to seven. The city says during the last permit period, 25,521 parking citations were given out. During the meeting, the department says it notices most people pay tickets on the last day or forget to pay them. The department believes this change could help that problem. Some people in Rehoboth are worried this change could have a negative impact on the city.
Dana Peccon, who owns a store in Rehoboth, told CoastTV she believes the change will make receiving a parking ticket even more frustrating.
"It will only be more difficult and this could deter people from coming to Rehoboth Beach if they are given less of the time to appeal a parking citation, so I really don't think it will help the visitors and the tourists," explained Peccon.
Mary Anne Callaghan says she believes the parking situation is a complex issue.
"The parking issue has two sides to it, one side is yes do people take advantage of the parking situation, of course. but at the same time these people are coming into town and spending a lot of money, thousands of dollars to rent houses and come to the businesses," said Callaghan.
The department also said at the October meeting that the change could help reduce the amount of time is takes to review old citations. The city will discuss this proposal, along with other parking topics on December 15th at 2:00pm.