Berrien County has ended its trial of “pay as you leave” parking at Silver Beach County Park after two runs this month.

Speaking to the St. Joseph City Commission at its regular meeting Monday, County Administrator Brian Dissette said having visitors pay for their parking upon exit during two busy weekends simply didn’t work. He pointed to one night following a jazz concert at the beach.

“We had a stack of cars that was between 45 minutes and up to an hour trying to make their way out of the park late in the evening,” Dissette said. “What was shared with me the very next morning was a letter from one of them, our command staff at the sheriff’s department, bringing to my attention the potential for worker safety staff concerns.”

That’s because the young beach staff were weaving in and out of lines of cars serving customers. Dissette said some of those customers were not friendly. Also, he said about $4,000 in beach revenue was lost due to the staff not being able to reach every visitor by the time they had to leave for the night.

St. Joseph Mayor Brook Thomas told us it does look to all like the “pay on exit” model isn’t the way to go. She’s glad the county continues working with the city.

“No, they didn’t finish the entire trial period out through the entirety of July, but I think that they saw what they needed to and they are communicating with us like we wanted them to,” Thomas said. “So my sense is that both of our staffs are working really well together to figure out a solution and I know that they’re going to continue this well into the future.”

Dissette said the county has hired Walker Consultants to continue studying ways to improve parking at the beach to reduce traffic congestion in downtown St. Joseph. He promised to be back in the next fiscal year with a new plan.

Commissioner Michael Sarola suggested a touchless, technology-based way of having visitors pay. Dissette said all options are being studied.