Wanted: More parking spaces on Daytona's beachside. New parking lot, garage under review.

DAYTONA BEACH — Owners of the Ocean Deck Restaurant asked the Daytona Beach City Commission Wednesday for permission to use a vacant 1.25-acre lot they own west of State Road A1A to build a surface parking lot and eventually a 180-space parking garage.

"We've been growing and getting busier and busier every year," said Ken Bots, one of the Ocean Deck owners. "We need more parking."

But neighbors are not happy about the idea, and two city government boards have already given the plan the thumbs down.

Parking a perpetual problem

For decades, people heading to Daytona's beachside for dinner, drinks or a day of Bike Week fun have had to get creative about finding a place to park.

Dozens of shops, bars and restaurants have very little or no parking, and motorists can find themselves in for more of a hike than they expected once they do find a place to leave their vehicle.

Bots told commissioners what the restaurant needs right away is a large surface parking lot for customers of his popular oceanfront restaurant. The oceanside eatery has only a dozen parking spaces in front of its building and a handful more in a small parking lot across from its business.

The Ocean Deck owners are also looking at building self-storage units on the long-empty land behind the Streamline Hotel.

To use their open land for parking, owners of the restaurant need two approvals from Daytona Beach city commissioners: a rezoning for the 1.25-acre parcel from residential professional uses to a planned development, and a comprehensive plan amendment that would change the future land use map.

Commissioners discussed those two measures at their meeting Wednesday night, and they're slated to take final votes at their March 6 meeting.

Stiff opposition

On Nov. 8, members of the Main Street/South Atlantic Redevelopment Area Board shot down the rezoning request 4-0. Then on Nov. 16, Planning Board members rejected the rezoning by a 3-2 vote.

The boards are made up of appointed members who mainly have advisory power, and they can be overruled by the City Commission.

After listening to six beachside residents opposed to building a garage on the site, a few commissioners said Wednesday night they would like to work something into the development agreement they'll vote on in March that would spell out how long Bots and his partners would have to wait to build a parking structure on the beachside lot bordered by Grandview and Fifth avenues, and Coates and Kemp streets.

Exactly how many years that will be has yet to be decided. One commissioner suggested two or three years.

City Commissioner Ken Strickland just wants to approve the surface parking lot for now, and then have Bots return before the commission seeking approval when he's ready to tackle construction of a parking garage.

In an interview after Wednesday's meeting, Bots said he doesn't mind waiting on building the parking garage.

"I'm in no hurry to do that," he said. "I'd be fine revisiting it in three to five years. I don't need the rubber stamp right now."

But he said he's "desperate" to get another parking lot. He'd like 70 spaces, and he said the lot would be available to the public for a charge of about $10. People who parked there would get a $10 coupon to use at the Ocean Deck.

Filling the parking gap

Bots said he'll probably want to move on building a parking garage when a large parcel on the northwest corner of State Road A1A and East International Speedway Boulevard is developed. There's been talk of a Publix, Walgreens or CVS possibly locating there, he said.

He's thinking he'll probably want a three-story, 180-space garage that could cost him and his two partners around $5.4 million. Although the city has talked about building a beachside garage for decades, Bots said they're not asking the city for any financial assistance.

The garage would be open to the public, but there would be a charge to park there, he said.

Many other nearby businesses between Main Street and ISB would love to have more parking spaces. Joe's Crab Shack on the Daytona Beach Pier uses a satellite parking lot at Harvey Avenue and A1A for its employees, and the new Señor Frog's planning to build on the oceanfront will also be looking for parking.

Numerous shops, hotels and restaurants are all short on parking space, Bots said. The Ocean Deck bought property at Coates and Kemp streets 25 years ago, and the 70 parking spaces they have there help. But more is needed, he said.

City records offer a glimpse into what could be built on the Ocean Deck owners' vacant, grassy site between Main Street and East International Speedway Boulevard.

The maximum height of the parking structure could be 47 feet, and the garage could encompass just under 26,000 square feet, city records show.

There could also be 8,000 square feet of storage units, and 15,000 square feet of green space.

'Putting them behind a brick wall'

The land Bots and his partners bought 18 months ago to expand their parking was covered with houses and duplexes until about 20 years ago.

A man who wanted to build new townhomes there tore down everything, but his plan didn't work out and he sold the property. About seven years ago, an Orlando-based developer called Avista bought the vacant site.

Avista had worked out a deal to swap the site for city-owned oceanfront property just south of Main Street so Avista could build a hotel overlooking the beach. But the deal fell through, and Bots and his partners decided in 2022 to buy the parcel for parking.

Bots said he's "trying to listen and do the right thing" so homeowners will be impacted as little as possible by the vacant land becoming a parking lot and, he hopes, eventually a parking garage. He's agreed to use something like crushed stone rather than asphalt for the parking lot to give it more of a beach feel, and to landscape it with native Florida plants.

Beachside resident John Nicholson said the parking structure and storage unit walls would be too tall and out of character for the area.

"It doesn't match the neighborhood whatsoever," he said.

Jenny Nazak, who lives near the site, wants to see more shops and fewer parking lots in her neighborhood.

More new Daytona beachside development: Beachside renewal: Vacant Daytona oceanfront lot getting 25-story, 270-unit condo-hotel.

Amy Pyle's front yard overlooks the lot targeted for the garage. She would much rather see a well-managed parking lot or some other use.

Sandy Murphy, who lives on the southern end of the beachside, said the empty lot should be "put to a higher use," and other existing vacant properties can be used for parking.

She said if there's not more of a transition from houses to businesses, it "would be criminal."

"You would essentially be putting them behind a brick wall," Murphy said. "These folks have put a lot of money into their homes. ... It would be an insult to that community."

You can reach Eileen at Eileen.Zaffiro@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach lot near ocean could get a new 180-space parking garage