Long Beach Proposal Ups Beach Permit, Business and Building Fees

LONG BEACH, NY — The City of Long Beach announced a plan to increase the prices of beach passes, create new classes of beach passes, increasing the costs of every type of business license it issues and doubling the cost of building permits. The City Council will be setting a date at Tuesday's meeting for a future hearing on the proposals.

The proposal would increase the rates of seasonal family beach passes by at least 50 percent and nearly double the rate of single adult passes. It would also create two new classes of beach passes for children and young adults. In addition, the city is also proposing a roughly 20 percent increase on the fees all businesses would have to pay for licenses.

The City Council will be meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the plan. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the council will be meeting via zoom instead of in person. The meeting will be live-streamed on the city's YouTube page. Anyone who wishes to participate and voice their opinions at the meeting has to register for the Zoom conference by clicking here.

Under the proposed plan, the cost of family beach passes would increase. Resident family passes would go from $70 to $105, and non-resident family passes would go from $120 to $210.

The city would also create three types of individual passes: one for children ages 13 to 17, one for young adults 18 to 22 and a third for adults.

Passes for adults, both resident and no-resident, are increasing 87.5 percent, from $40 to $75 for residents and $80 to $150 for non-residents. Resident children's passes are increasing 25 percent, going from $20 to $25. Under the new category, passes for non-resident children would cost $50, which is less than the current price of $80 for a non-resident pass.

The new category of young adults would be charged $30 for a resident pass and $60 for a non-resident pass. Under the current system, they would have been charged as adults.

The city is also increasing the cost of senior passes by 33 percent. Resident senior passes are going from $15 to $20, and non-resident passes are going from $30 to $40.

The price changes only affect seasonal passes.

The City Council is also considering an across-the-board increase of 20 percent to all business licensing fees. That includes the fee for non-specified businesses. The complete list of changes is in the agenda for the meeting.

In addition to increasing fees for businesses, the city is also increasing the fees homeowners would have to pay to modify their homes. Building permit fees are doubling. Currently, building permits cost $75 for the first $1,000 estimated cost of construction, plus $7 for each additional $1,000. Those costs would jump to $150 for the base permit and $15 for each additional $1,000.

The city is also double the cost of certificates of occupancy, going from $100 to $200 for new single- or two-family homes, and $100 to $200 for condominiums, and $100 to $200 for each unit in the condos. The city is also increasing the fees to install new water meters and sprinklers, and the fees to do any new plumbing or drainage work.