Rehoboth installs new scooter parking

In response to the influx of scooters that have hit town this year, Rehoboth Beach officials have designated several parking spaces around town for scooter parking.

There are now 29 spaces for scooters to park:

• Eight across from Café Azafran on Baltimore Avenue
• Eight adjacent to Mariachi Restaurant on Wilmington Avenue
• Four adjacent to Gallery 50 on Wilmington Avenue
• Nine at the Martins Lawn parking lot on Christian Street.

The parking spaces were converted from car parking to scooter parking the morning of July 25, and are free of charge for scooter riders. The city has posted signs at the spaces, which are intended to be a test for this year as the city works on a long-term solution.

Commissioner Pat Coluzzi, a scooter owner herself, said, “It might end up being permanent. This is the kind of thing we are looking for throughout the city. We’ll see how they are utilized.”

Scooter parking in Rehoboth became an issue after complaints were received about scooters parked in the two new bicycle parking stations on Baltimore Avenue.

Scooters have generally been parking at the bicycle racks around town, but safety concerns have also been raised about scooter riders riding their scooters on the sidewalks to park them at the bike racks.

Coluzzi said scooters could park at the motorcycle spaces on Rehoboth Avenue. The motorcycle spaces are metered. She said she is starting to get the word out about the new spaces, giving maps to the scooter shops and a variety of restaurants showing where the spaces are located.

As for why there are so many scooters in town this year, Coluzzi speculated that the increased number of scooter shops, the fuel economy of scooters – some can get 100 miles per gallon – and the lack of car parking in Rehoboth in the summer have played a role.

“This is eight scooters versus two cars. That’s one of the reasons people got them because you can’t find a place to park,” she said.

Long-term, the city is weighing whether it should charge scooters to park, much like a car, possibly using a system like the Parkmobile pay-by-phone system that was introduced this year.

“We need to discuss it. It’s definitely something we need to have a plan for before next season. We’ll see what the usage is here, if there are any types of problems here. We’re not going to stop the number of scooters that come into town,” Coluzzi said.

The original plan, as laid out by Coluzzi at the commissioners’ July 20 meeting, was to use spaces too small for cars as scooter parking. Areas were targeted on Baltimore, Olive, Maryland and Virginia avenues. Those options were rejected by the commissioners because many of them were within the fire lane access.

Commissioner Patrick Gossett suggested the two isolated spaces across from Café Azafran, between the entrance lanes to the old Epworth United Methodist Church parking lot, as an option for scooter parking. He said the mid-block location would also be safer than a spot closer to the First Street intersection.

Commissioner Lorraine Zellers said the location of the new scooter spaces will help clear some of the congestion at the Baltimore Avenue-First Street intersection.

Mayor Sam Cooper said, “I don’t mind trying it if there is a commitment we are going to address in the longer sense. My goal would be to get them off the sidewalks. I don’t think motorized vehicles should be on the sidewalks.”