This Cape May County Shore Town Approved to Get New Parking Garage

Tourism and Summer Seasonal businesses are the backbone of the Jersey Shore with every Coastal Community planning their schedules around May through September each year. But one of the most contentious topics in South Jersey over the last 50 years is directly tied to this essential part of the region.

Parking in the New Jersey Shore Towns has been a topic that has generated many political and business debates. While some Coastal Communities such as Avalon have decided to not charge for parking, many South Jersey communities use seasonal paid parking as a revenue generator.

The parking rates and utilization of the infamous Park Mobile system have created plenty of angst from local business owners and visitors in Shore Towns like Stone Harbor. Other Coastal Communities such as Ocean City and Wildwood have private parking lots that charge rates that make vacationers question even visiting the popular boardwalks in these Shore Towns.

Two years ago, I proposed the idea of building parking garages in seven South Jersey Shore Towns because there would be financial, and infrastructure benefits that would come with them. Now as 2026 winds down, plans have been put in motion build the first-of-its-kind parking garage in a popular Jersey Shore town.

Cape May County Board of County Commissioners approve plans for first multi-story parking garage

In September, a bond ordinance was introduced for Cape May County to purchase property in Wildwood with the goal of building a parking garage. A month later, Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a $4.285 Million bond for the purchase.

The plan as laid out to the public is that there will be cooperation between Cape May County, the South Jersey Transportation Authority, along with the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority to build this new parking garage.

The property at 321 East Cedar Ave is a short walking distance from the heart of the Wildwood Boardwalk, Morey's Piers, and Splash Zone Waterpark.  According to local media reports, public comments were addressed to the Cape May County Commissioners about the new parking garage's close proximity to Commissioner Will Morey's businesses. The potential conflict of interest was addressed as non-existant per county attorney Jeffrey Lindsay.

According to the bond ordinance public notice, while Cape May County is purchasing the property for a specific purpose, they will not be solely responsible for all costs of constructing the multi-story parking garage.

At the time of the writing of this article, there has been no timetable set for starting construction of the new parking garage in Wildwood.