A Letter from Town Manager David J. Gilbride

Faced with the need to generate revenue for beach maintenance and capital projects, the Town of North Topsail Beach began to seriously consider implementing “Paid Parking” in 2020. A small beach town with no commercial or industrial district, parking seemed to be the only viable alternative to large residential tax increases.

The town considered multiple vendors and selected SurfCast by Otto to target a start date of March 1, 2021. The use of the SurfCast app, as opposed to “kiosks” allowed us to implement parking fees without substantial capital investment, eliminate any cash handling concerns, and to transfer parking enforcement from our police department to the Otto personnel.

From the first day the advice, cooperation, communication, and willingness to address specific situations or exceptions has been outstanding. This excellent level of customer service helped us begin educating the public early in the process, providing instruction on how to use the app, effective times and dates, locations of lots and “mail-in” lots, fee structure, and even “in person” registration days at Town Hall.

Acceptance by our residents was immediate, and day visitors to our beach parking lots have been cooperative. Revenues have exceeded what we originally projected, and to say that we are pleased with the results of the SurfCast by Otto program would be an understatement.

In short, I would recommend the use of SurfCast by Otto to any organization considering paid parking for its simplicity, ease of operation, outstanding customer service, and flexibility to adapt to special situations.

David J. Gilbride

Town Manager

North Topsail Beach, NC