Hilton Head Parking Study

Hilton Head is a coastal island community with approximately 40,000 residents and a robust tourism economy that brings more than 2.5 million visitors annually.

Walker Consultants provided a comprehensive study to analyze parking demands and prepare recommendations for the Town of Hilton Head. This included regulations, strategies, capital improvements, collection of parking fees/fines, and associated financial models.

Walker’s study emphasized the Coligny area, one of the island’s highest parking demand locations. With the construction of the new Lowcountry Celebration Park nearby, demand was expected to be even stronger.

Walker’s operational experts performed a review of the Town’s ordinances to establish language for developing a parking enterprise fund and oversee the creation of a paid parking program. Elements of the program were designed to include fines, enforcement, vehicle immobilization policies, and resident parking district policies. Walker’s financial modeling provided information for the Town to consider the value of implementing this enterprise fund.

Subsequent short-term recommendations included:

• The development of a pay-by-cell platform
• A need to issue an RFP for a firm to manage the parking program
• A license plate permit credential program to replace the dated parking decal program and enable enforcement by license plate camera readers.
• A step-by-step communication program to guide the Town through the transition

Longer-term solutions included the recommendation of a dynamic wayfinding system, additional bicycle infrastructure, public/private community partnerships, and expanded community roles for parking enforcement.