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Paid Parking on Bolivar Beaches a Success 542 Views :: 5 Comments :: :: Local News Paid Parking on Bolivar Beaches a Success After almost a season of charging to park on Bolivar Peninsula beaches, county officials are declaring the program a success. Having already collected $169,000 for passes to park along the 32-mile stretch of sand, the county expects to gross more than $210,000 by the time the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. That would net about $150,000 to improve beach amenities and services. “It’s been better than I thought it would be,” County Judge Jim Yarbrough said Thursday. In January and February, the county sold $5 “Early Bird” season passes from the parks and senior services center in La Marque. Then, starting March 1, it began selling lots of 25 or more to Bolivar merchants and real-estate agents for $9.50. By letting them resell the passes for $10, the county gave the merchants and agents an incentive to get the word out that people need to buy a pass to park on the beach. “The program is going a lot smoother than I anticipated,” said Dennis Harris, director of parks and senior services. Because the pass fees were for use of the public beaches, state law requires that the money be spent improving them. It can go for services such as beach patrol or beach cleaning, or it could be used to add amenities such as trash cans and portable toilets. Harris and County Commissioner Patrick Doyle will have a public hearing on Bolivar Peninsula this fall to discuss how residents want those funds to be spent. While the program has been considered a success, officials still are trying to come up with a way to enforce paid parking on Bolivar beaches. Yarbrough said he’s reluctant to ask the sheriff’s department to ticket violators.  The Galveston Daily News  Marty Schladen