More than 1,000 tickets later, Publix shoppers find parking relief

Nicki McDonald was frustrated. And when she talked to her neighbors, they were frustrated, too.

They all shared similar stories: During their trips to the Publix grocery store at 135 Bradley Place in Palm Beach, they struggled to find a parking space.

Repeatedly, McDonald had to circle around the parking lot, waiting for a spot to open — an exercise that typically resulted in her driving home without being able to check off the items on her shopping list.

So she decided to act. Her first stops were Palm Beach Council President Pro-Tem Lew Crampton and the Palm Beach Police Department.

The result was a parking-enforcement plan that supporters say has improved turnover in the store’s parking lot, allowing more people to use the lot for its intended purpose — and produced a ton of citations in the past year.

“We all know that parking and traffic are probably the No. 1 issue in Palm Beach right now,” said McDonald, an alternate member on the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, which has reviewed several parking and traffic-related plans for solutions, particularly in the past two years. “We’re trying to find solutions, and everybody was so collaborative and did their work — and it’s working.”

Publix hired the Palm Beach Police to assign a police officer to enforce parking in the store’s lot each day, a move that took effect Nov. 28, 2023, department spokesman Capt. Will Rothrock said. From that date to Nov. 22 of this year, officers wrote 1,074 citations, he said.

Many of the citations written in the Publix parking lot are considered commercial zone violations, with a fine of $60, Rothrock said. The fine is $250 for disabled placard violations. Publix pays the town’s standard police detail rate of $80 per hour, which varies on holidays, and the town then pays officers time and a half up to $75 per hour to work the off-duty shift, he said.

A Publix spokeswoman did not return requests for comment.

Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets Inc. has owned the property on the northeast corner of Bradley Place and Sunset Avenue — about 4.3 acres of land that includes the store and parking lot — since January of 1975, when the company bought the land for $97,500, property records show.

There is no charge to park in the store’s lot — but it is only intended to be used by Publix, said those involved with the effort.

Instead of being primarily occupied by Publix shoppers, many of the spaces in the lot were being used by people who parked there and then walked to other destinations, whether to shop at nearby stores, eat at restaurants, head to the nearby Lake Trail or Bradley Park, or even walk to the beach, officials said.

After McDonald brought her concerns to Crampton, they enlisted the help of Palm Beach Police Lt. Paul Alber, who has helped to lead the department’s charge in tackling parking and traffic issues.

They also spoke with Publix store manager Jennifer Lomastro, who McDonald said was “terrific,” and who brought in district and regional Publix managers to help find answers to the Publix parking crunch. The group — McDonald, Crampton, Alber and the Publix representatives — started their work by meeting in front of the store on a day last fall, Crampton said.

“We did react, I think, appropriately and quickly to help solve the situation,” Crampton said. He noted that Publix deserves a lot of credit for the improvement in shoppers’ ability to find open parking spaces.

“Publix took it seriously,” he said. “They want turnover, and they weren’t getting it because people were over-parking there.”

One of the first items they identified: Cars frequently parked illegally in the emergency lane in front of the store, McDonald and Alber said. Large trucks would pull up and park along the curb there, “jamming up traffic,” Alber said.

“Getting compliance with those individuals and not having them parking right in front of the store and in the traffic lanes has made it easier for everybody,” he said.

Publix worked with the town’s police and fire departments to add more striping and signs in the area, and that issue has improved, McDonald said. But perhaps the biggest change is the newly strengthened enforcement provided by the Palm Beach Police Department, officials said.

New signs added in the past year throughout the parking lot warn drivers that they have two hours to park there, and parking is for Publix customers only.

Mayor Danielle Moore also had a role: “The mayor wrote a letter early in the process to alert them (neighboring businesses) to the fact … it’s not appropriate for their employees to be parking at Publix, and there was going to be enforcement forthcoming,” he said.

The result: Happier shoppers who can now actually find parking spaces, McDonald said. “It’s part of changing the mentality of the use of that lot, how it should be used, how it is meant to be used, how it was built to be used,” she said. And that mentality is changing, she said, especially as word has spread and people have gotten tickets.

Seeing more than 1,000 citations issued in less than a year surprised those involved.

“We all knew that people were doing it,” Alber said of those parking in the lot and walking elsewhere. “I guess I just didn’t appreciate how many.”

Rothrock said Publix’s help has been key to police efforts to keep the parking lot orderly and combat shoplifting, and that’s contributed to community safety in the area.

“They have been diligent in conveying that the Publix parking lot is for Publix customer use, and only while a customer is inside shopping,” he said. “Customers cannot park their vehicle in the lot and leave the lot, even if it is before or after they shop.”

On-street parking around Publix had been free, but those spaces are now paid and part of the ParkMobile system, Alber said.

While there was some reluctance to that move to a paid parking system — there and elsewhere in town — Alber said he receives more positive feedback every day from people who can find parking spaces because the paid spots improve turnover. “There’s parking to be had,” he said, pointing to other lots in the area. “It’s just a matter of getting everybody on the same page.”

While Palm Beach Police typically don’t patrol private property, Publix was happy to enlist the department’s help, Alber said. “We’re just trying to best manage the available limited amount of parking that we have and make sure that the spaces are used for their intended purpose,” he said.

McDonald — whom Crampton and Alber credited with launching the effort to improve parking for Publix shoppers — said she feels this is an example of a resident seeing something and bringing it to a Town Council member to work together to find a solution.

“I was met with such receptivity and enthusiasm,” she said.

As Palm Beach continues to look for ways to ease the traffic congestion and parking issues plaguing the island, a joint effort is needed, McDonald said. “It works,” she noted. “It’s a very rewarding feeling.”

Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Publix shoppers find parking relief after joint effort with Palm Beach

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