Parking Problems Plague Planning Board

Sitting quietly in the front row, applicant Beth Joseph of Ocean Beach was at her second planning board meeting in five months and it won’t be her last. Joseph’s plans to build an upstairs office on her two-bedroom Ocean Beach residence was once again denied by the seven members at the Ocean Beach Planning Board meeting on May 21st because of lack of parking.

Parking, according to the planners on the board, is the biggest issue that faces the densely populated beach community. “Everyone’s got to address the parking issue, it’s key to getting any project approved, no matter what size project, it can potentially impact the entire neighborhood,” said one of the board members.

At the meeting, only two of the four projects presented before the board were deemed to have sufficient parking. The other two must revise the building plans to include more spots for cars and present the revisions to the advisory board at a future meeting.

The Ocean Beach Planning Board meets at 6:00pm on the first Wednesday of every month at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center. More information is available on their website, obpb.org.