Beach Bummer

The days of free parking in the heavily used beach-front lot near Carlsbad's popular seawall will come to an end Monday when the State Parks system activates two fee collection machines, the North County Times.

The arrival of the machines at the Tamarack State Beach lot has been anticipated since 2008 and is part of a wave of measures designed to make up for state budget shortfalls.

At one point, the city of Carlsbad sued the state in an effort to block the devices' installation, but eventually that lawsuit was settled in the state's favor.

Private contractors were testing the new machines Thursday and plans call for the devices to be activated Monday morning, the paper reported.

The machines will charge an hourly rate of $2, or a full-day rate of $10. One collection device stands at the south end of the 126-space lot, the other occupies the northern end. People pay, then take their receipts back to their vehicles and display them on the dashboard.

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