Swampscott to offer $10 beach guest passes

SWAMPSCOTT – Swampscott Recreation Department is teaming up with local stand-up paddleboard companies to bring in tourist dollars with a new guest parking pass.Recreation Director Danielle Strauss said the plan to sell one-day, $10 guest parking passes at Town Hall will bring revenue into the general fund. Local paddleboard companies would sell them with board rentals at the beaches. Strauss said she chose a fee of $10 because it?s the rate that neighboring Marblehead uses.?It helps the business in town,” said Strauss, when she presented the pass at last week?s selectmen?s meeting. “The feeling is we would like to see people to come and use the restaurants, maybe buy a house here.”Guests of the town would buy the ticket ahead of their stay or at the beaches, at Ocean House Surf Shop and Cafe across from King?s Beach on Humphrey Street, and at the board rental kiosks planned for Eisman?s Beach. A kiosk operated by Salem-based SUP East Coast Style is planned for Preston Beach. Guests would park at the Phillips Park parking lot. Without the pass, drivers will be ticketed for parking at beaches without a resident parking sticker, the fee for which is $20 for the season.Ocean House owner Timothy Oviatt said his business is already drawing customers from outside the town, from as close as Marblehead to as far as Cambridge.?We want to bring people from all over, especially Boston,” said Oviatt.The passes are available at Town Hall already, but Oviatt said he is hoping to start selling passes at his store within the week.Paddleboard rentals at Ocean House are $20 for the first hour and $15 for every hour thereafter.For more information, check out the store?s website at http://www.oceanhousesurf.com. For more information on SUP East Coast Style, go to http://www.supeastcoaststyle.com.Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].