Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Atlantic Beach residents have voiced strong concerns about parking at Gio’s Atlantic Beach restaurant, claiming the parking lot at the intersection of Park Street and Ithaca Avenue has been misused.
Village residents claim that Gio’s at 1846 Park St., has been using a parking lot across the street from the restaurant, which has one exit leading out onto Ithaca Avenue
Those who spoke out on the issue at the March 10 board meeting said that motorists have been exiting the lot and driving the wrong way down Ithaca Avenue. Speakers also noted that the restaurant’s valet parking system, operated by a separate contracted company, could be contributing to the issue.
Ithaca Avenue resident Marianne Gould submitted a letter to the village trustees on her concerns and asking for them to be addressed as soon as possible.
“Cars drive the wrong way on my street, park in this parking lot illegally, patrons of the restaurant are boisterous late at night,” Gould read in a letter to the Board of Trustees.
Many residents say they feel endangered by drivers leaving the lot and heading the wrong way down the one-way street.
Steve Watkins, who also lives on Ithaca Avenue, said that this is not the first time he has raised this issue.
“George, I have been coming to you for months, we’ve said it to you, we’ve pleaded with you, we begged you to do something about it, and yet this board has done absolutely nothing,” Watkins said, in addressing Mayor George Pappas. “Yesterday, I was coming home at 7:58 p.m., a white suburban came pulling out of that parking lot and drove down my block the wrong way.”
Watkins and Gould referred to a different parking issue on Albany Boulevard, where new Trustee Anthony Livreri lives, that appeared to be resolved as he was elected to the board last June. They said that’s unfair.
Livreri refuted the claims, saying he created a petition with his neighbors and waited more than a year for his parking issues to be resolved, both of which occurred before he became a village trustee.
Vincent Amoroso, the village’s superintendent of public works and building inspector, said he believed it was a matter for the Atlantic Beach Board of Zoning Appeals.
“Gio’s restaurant has applied for a variance for to remodel the interior of the restaurant and increase it as part of that increased occupancy,” Amoroso said. “They are required to provide a parking analysis and location for off street parking they have submitted to the board of zoning appeals for the off-street parking to utilize that parking lot, whether or not that is granted is a zoning board matter.”
George Cornish, the BZA’s president, said at the meeting that if no addition is currently being done, it is not a matter for his board.
No representatives from Gio’s Restaurant attended the meeting. As of press time, Gio’s had not issued a comment regarding the situation.
Pappas said, village officials are working together to help rectify the situation.
Have an opinion on the Gio parking situation? Send letter mberman@liherald.com.
