In early June, Riviera Beach City Councilman Glen Spiritis held up a parking ticket at a council meeting. "They sent me a $45 fine with a photo of my car going into the lot and a photo of my car leaving the lot but no photo of my car being parked," he said, as WPBF reported. He had only driven through. Other council members and the city manager said they had heard similar complaints, and the council voted unanimously to pause paid parking at Ocean Walk and the nearby marina while the city reviewed the problems.
The pause lasted about two months. WFLX reported that paid parking came back on Monday, August 3. On September 2, the council changed the rules again in a way that matters more to island residents than either the pause or the restart. The annual resident permit is now free. It works in some lots and not in others, and Ocean Walk's parking map splits along that line.
The Lot Line Is the Price Line
Ocean Walk has two kinds of parking. The premium spaces sit along N. Ocean Avenue on the beach side. Retail West is the lot behind the shops, west of the buildings. The city's posted rates look almost identical once you pass the two-hour mark. The real differences are the first two hours and the all-day cap.
| Time parked | Ocean Walk Premium, Ocean Ave | Ocean Walk Retail West | Marina paved lots, north and south |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 1 hour | $3 | Free | Free |
| 1 to 2 hours | $5 | Free | Free |
| 2 to 3 hours | $7 | $7 | $10 |
| 3 to 4 hours | $9 | $9 | $15 |
| 4 to 8 hours | $20 | $20 | $15 |
| 8+ hours | $40 | $30 | $15 |
| Resident permit valid? | No | Yes | Yes |
One Parking, the city's parking operator, adds a $0.79 convenience fee to every transaction. That makes a two-hour beach morning on Ocean Avenue $5.79. The same two hours in Retail West cost nothing, with or without a permit. Between two and eight hours, the two Ocean Walk lots charge the same.
Without a permit, the walk from Retail West saves money only on short visits and very long ones. With a permit, it saves money every time.
A Free Permit Since September, With One Exception
At the September 2 meeting, the council approved Resolution 109-26. It made the annual residential permit free, down from $50, according to a Citizen Portal summary of the meeting. The same summary says staff were directed to publish registration instructions and the council asked staff to consider refunds for people who had recently bought the $50 version. The $50 price was the one WFLX reported when parking returned in August.
The city's parking page lists the permit terms:
- Riviera Beach residents only, with a valid vehicle registration
- One permit per vehicle
- Valid for 12 months from the date of issue
- Good in the Marina parking lots and the Ocean Walk Retail West lots
- Not valid on N. Ocean Boulevard
The last item is the exception that shapes a beach day. The spaces closest to the sand charge from the first hour whether or not the car has a permit. A Singer Island household with a free permit pays nothing to park behind the shops for a full afternoon at the beach. If the same household parks on Ocean Avenue, it pays $20 plus the transaction fee for a stay of four to eight hours, and $40 plus the fee beyond that.
Permit applications go through a One Parking portal linked from the city page. The city's permit office is at 600 West Blue Heron Blvd., open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It can be reached at (561) 783-5561 or [email protected].
Employees of businesses located at Ocean Walk or the marina have a separate track. Once approved, they get a free permit for Retail West or the Marina lots, depending on where they work. Employee permits do not apply to the Ocean Walk Premium lot either.
How the Cameras Count Your Two Hours
The free two hours are what went wrong in the spring, and they are the part the August restart was meant to fix. The system uses fixed license plate recognition cameras. No app is required. Drivers pay by scanning a QR code on the posted signs or at a kiosk in the central plaza or on the ocean side of Ocean Avenue.
The city describes the logic this way. The cameras record how long a car stays. If that stay requires payment, the system looks for a matching payment. If it finds none, it looks for a valid resident or employee permit. If it finds neither, a citation goes by mail to the vehicle's registered address. The city says multiple unpaid infractions may result in booting or towing.
At a July council meeting, One Parking officials said testing was complete and the cameras were time-stamping vehicles correctly. Mayor Douglas Lawson asked them to confirm the rule directly, as WFLX reported: "If somebody comes in, it's time stamped, and they come out within that two-hour period, they will not be invoiced?" One Parking officials agreed.
That answer applies to Retail West and the Marina lots. On Ocean Avenue there is no free window, so a quick stop to check the surf still needs a payment.
Before the restart, the operator updated the signs at Ocean Walk and the Marina District to make them clearer. WPTV reported on August 3 that One Parking planned four more kiosks around the island.
The Marina Plays by Different Rules After Dark
The marina side follows the same two free hours, then charges $10 for two to three hours and $15 for three hours or more. For a long daytime visit, it is the cheapest of the three lots.
Resolution 109-26 also set a $40 overnight rate in the Marina District. According to the Citizen Portal meeting summary, the city's chief financial officer, Randy Sherman, described it as a way to keep non-residents from occupying spaces overnight and to deal with cross-parking from nearby port facilities. The Marina rate table on the city's parking page does not list the overnight rate, so anyone planning to leave a car at the marina overnight should ask the permit office how it applies.
When a Citation Shows Up in the Mail
Since citations arrive by mail rather than on the windshield, a driver may not learn about one until days after the visit. The city's page says a citation received in error "may be disputed online." It links to a citation lookup and payment portal at municipalviolations.com.
Disabled parking placards were part of the June complaints. WPBF noted that under Florida law, certain drivers with valid disabled parking permits may park for free in public parking spaces, and that people with legal placards reported being charged. At the time of the pause, WPTV reported that Mayor Lawson said the city would review the handicap-parking and timing concerns and refund wrongful charges.
This is general information, not legal advice. Anyone disputing a citation or relying on a placard exemption should confirm the current rules with the City of Riviera Beach or an attorney.
The Revenue Behind It, and the Case Still in Court
The program brings in real money for the city, which helps explain why it came back after the pause instead of ending. WPTV reported on August 7 that, according to the city, the program generated more than $640,000 from its October 2025 launch through June 2026. The city estimated the roughly two-month pause cost about $170,000. When the program was first proposed in May 2025, WPBF reported that city officials projected about $2.2 million a year across the Ocean Walk and Marina locations.
A federal lawsuit is also still open. WPTV reported that a retired Palm Beach Gardens attorney filed suit on March 3, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The suit names Riviera Beach, five other cities, and several parking operators, including One Parking, and challenges signage standards and how the private payment platforms handle license plate data, among other claims. The federal case docket still lists the City of Riviera Beach and One Parking Riviera Beach, Inc. as defendants. Its latest entries are a September 28 reply supporting a motion to dismiss the amended complaint and an October 1 order.
For now, the program is running. The city's November 4 council agenda does not list a parking item. For a Singer Island resident heading into the busy winter months, the rules are set. Register the vehicle once, and Retail West and the Marina lots cost nothing. Ocean Avenue charges every time.
Questions like which lot you can use without paying come up a lot for anyone weighing life on the island. At John Nugent Group, we track details like these building by building and block by block. If you're comparing Singer Island homes and want to know how beach access works from a particular address, contact us.
