On November 4, the Manhattan Beach City Council voted 5-0 to replace more than 1,200 individual parking meters with about 110 centralized pay stations and ParkMobile payments, as Patch reported. The coin meter in front of a downtown storefront gives way to a kiosk down the block, and new rules arrive with it. Taken with the rate schedule that took effect in August, they show the city deciding where long visits belong. Short stops stay on the street, and longer stays move to the public lots.

What the council actually approved

The legal groundwork was laid earlier this fall. The council adopted Ordinance No. 26-0011 on October 6. The ordinance amended the Municipal Code's parking meter chapter, which staff had proposed renaming "Merchant Parking Permits," and added a new Chapter 14.42 covering paid parking zones. The November 4 vote approved two resolutions. One establishes paid zones in the Coastal Zone. The other covers city-owned parking outside it.

According to the city staff report, the city runs more than 1,275 single-space meters plus 12 older pay stations, and staff described both as "nearing the end of their useful life, costly to maintain, and prone to technical issues." Earlier steps led here. The council approved a three-year agreement with ParkMobile on February 17, 2026, and a contract with EyeP Solutions on May 19 for mobile enforcement cameras that read license plates.

City Traffic Engineer Erik Zandvliet told Patch that the stations will go in across the existing paid areas, including downtown, North Manhattan Beach, El Porto and other city parking facilities.

How a parking session works under the new system

Drivers no longer pay for a specific space. They pay for a zone, which the staff report describes as typically the on-street parking along one block, or a section of a lot that shares the same time limits. Zone numbers will be posted on signs within each zone. In practice:

1. Find the zone number on the posted sign where you park.
2. Start a session in the ParkMobile app, by text, or at a pay station by entering your license plate and the zone. The app can store your plates in advance.
3. Pay at the kiosk with coins, TAP contactless, or most debit and credit cards. The kiosks do not take bills.
4. Move if you need to. Because the session is tied to your plate, any space in the same zone is covered while it runs.
5. Extend from wherever you are, up to the posted maximum, without walking back to the car.

The city expects 85 to 90 percent of sessions to start on a phone. Enforcement moves from chalked tires to time-stamped plate images. As Patch reported, an officer still makes the call on each citation, so tickets are not issued automatically. Manual enforcement remains authorized whenever the plate readers are not in use.

Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach already appear in the staff report's list of Southern California cities using pay-by-plate. Anyone who parks along Hermosa Avenue or near the Redondo waterfront will find the routine familiar.

The 15-minute rule that ends meter feeding

Remote extensions sound like a pure convenience, and up to the posted limit, they are. The council paired them with a cap. As Patch described the vote, a driver who reaches the maximum time cannot buy another session in the same zone for 15 minutes. The cooling-off period does not extend the posted limit, and staying past it can still draw a citation.

The staff report spells out the reason. Feeding the meter past the time limit is "a practice often observed by beachgoers and employees in Downtown, North Manhattan Beach and beach lots," and it "reduces the availability of high-demand parking spaces in front of businesses." The report's answer for people who need longer stays is to lengthen time limits in some public lots and steer that parking off the street.

That is the second half of the November vote. Lots 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, along with the lower level of the Civic Center lot during unreserved periods, go from two hours to three. On-street limits stay as they are, mostly two to three hours between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., and the 24-minute short-term spaces don't change. The resolutions also set ceilings of three hours on the street and ten hours off the street. The Traffic Engineer posts specific limits within those ranges.

The August rates already pushed in the same direction

Patch reported that the November overhaul leaves parking rates unchanged. That is accurate for the November vote. Prices had already moved on August 1, 2026, under a separate rate resolution the council adopted in July. It created a summer season from May through August and an off-peak season from September through April.

Before August, a downtown curb space and a spot in the Metlox garage cost the same $2.50 an hour. This month, in the off-peak season, the curb costs $3.50 and the downtown lots cost $2.00, so the street is 75 percent more expensive. Under the resolutions approved November 4, the lots are set to allow an extra hour, and the street won't let you feed the meter. A two-hour lunch on Manhattan Beach Boulevard costs less in a downtown lot, and you can stay longer.

North Manhattan Beach works differently. Street and Lot 4 rates there stayed level with each other at $2.50 off-peak. North of downtown, the difference comes from Lot 4's added third hour.

The pier lots and the El Porto and Bruce's Beach lots follow their own logic. According to the rate resolution, the pier lots sit on State of California property and El Porto and Bruce's Beach are owned by Los Angeles County. Paid enforcement on most city facilities runs daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Upper Pier lots are enforced at all hours.

Free holiday parking and the switchover

The changeover lands in the busiest weeks downtown. Patch reported that the city will install the equipment over the coming weeks and test it during the traditional holiday free-parking period, with the system expected to go live after that period ends. Officials also pledged to avoid disruptive construction around the Holiday Open House, the pier lighting and the fireworks show.

The Downtown Manhattan Beach Holiday Open House and Pier Lighting is Wednesday, November 18, from 6 to 9 p.m. Festivities at Metlox Plaza start at 5 p.m., and the pier lights up at 7. The Chamber of Commerce's 38th Annual Skechers Manhattan Beach Holiday Fireworks follows on Sunday, December 13, from 3 to 8 p.m. at the pier, with fireworks at 7.

Last year's free-parking program shows how the holiday period has worked. MB News reported on November 28, 2025, that the program was underway. Red-bagged meters on city streets and in city lots offered two free hours through December 25. Overstaying the posted maximum could still get a ticket, and the state-owned pier meters and county-owned El Porto and 26th Street lot meters were not included. Under that model, a red bag on a meter was the only sign that parking was free. This year, some of those meters may share the block with new kiosks that are still being tested.

Street time limits come back in January

The council did not settle how long people can park on the street. Kelly Stroman, executive director of Downtown Manhattan Beach, asked councilmembers to consider customers at salons, medical offices and other businesses whose appointments often run longer than two hours, Patch reported. The council extended the lot limits, put off broader changes to street limits, and directed the Parking and Public Improvements Commission to take up the question again in January, weighing customer convenience against turnover. The staff report notes that business owners in the outreach meetings held differing views on street limits, and that many stakeholders, most notably residents, were not represented. Under the resolutions, the Traffic Engineer can adjust limits within each zone after that review, as long as they stay within the ranges the council set.

This is general information about city parking rules, not legal advice. Posted signs and the city's own notices govern any particular space.

At Liz Bird Fine Homes, we follow decisions like this one because the walk from the car to Manhattan Beach Boulevard is part of daily life downtown. If you'd like to talk through how parking and access shape a particular block, whether you live there now or are thinking about a move, Let's Connect.