Officials to install sensors to make parking easier in Ocean City, NJ

Finding parking at the beach and boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey, can often be a headache for drivers.

“It can definitely be frustrating,” Brandon Pettit of Maurice River Township told NBC10. “I feel like I try to spend more time trying to find a spot rather than actually being on the boardwalk and on the beach.”

With the summer season approaching, however, Ocean City officials are working to make the parking process a bit easier.

“Our campaign is, ‘There’s always a spot in Ocean City,’” Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian said.

Ocean City officials are calling for the installation of about 840 sensors in six municipal parking lots near the boardwalk in order to help steer drivers towards available places to park.

“We’ll use the existing parking blocks here and a sensor can be screwed right into the parking block which will sense whether or not a vehicle is in the stall,” Frank Donato, Ocean City’s Director of Finance, told NBC10.

With that key information, the sensors will then communicate that real-time data wirelessly to a networked system. Digital signs posted in strategic locations will show drivers the number of open spots in each of the parking lots.

“Having that extra information ahead of time, I think, could really help,” Pettit said.

Donato told NBC10 similar technology is used in airport locations and officials are confident it will work in Ocean City.

“It should be available, if not by in the very beginning of the summer, then definitely by the heart of the summer,” Donato said.

Part of Ocean City’s website also displays a map of all municipal and privately-owned parking lots. The boardwalk area and downtown have nearly 4,000 spaces to park your car, including metered street parking.

“We try and tell everybody you know, you can park up to the boardwalk, unload your car, and then you know, go find a parking spot,” Mayor Gillian said.