Should we valet park during coronavirus crisis? Here’s what Florida cities are saying
Required valet parking is a common sight at many condominium buildings and businesses across South Florida.
But key fobs, steering wheels, door handles and other vehicle surfaces are just another way COVID-19 can spread.
So some South Florida cities, condos and businesses are reining in the service, allowing drivers to decide whether they want someone else in their car.
“There is no playbook for this,” said James Baum, general manager of Icon Brickell Master Association. Baum said the board decided last week that shutting down the valet operation for the 1,800-unit complex was the right thing to do.
“Once we started seeing the numbers and how this is spreading we made the decision,” he said. All residents now self-park. If someone is visiting, they have to park in a nearby lot.
Most hospitals also have suspended valet service — including Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Jackson Memorial and UHealth in Miami, and Memorial Healthcare in Broward.
Here’s a look at what some cities are doing:
Aventura
Aventura said this week in an amendment to its Safer at Home declaration that it recommended residential buildings and businesses allow people to self-park instead of using a valet service.
The order says that condos and businesses should “make reasonable accommodations to allow visitors and residents of the building to self-park if parking operations are not negatively affected and disrupted.”
And if a building or business continues the service, the “employees who do park vehicles will be required to have Personal Protective Equipment to prevent the spread of Corona/COVID-19.”
That means a valet would need a face mask, gloves, hand sanitizer and disinfection wipes.
Violating the order can lead to fines and/or imprisonment.
Coral Gables
“The city has not ordered the valet services in private buildings to close down, but according to our parking director most of them have closed for their own reasons,” said Coral Gables spokeswoman Maria Higgins-Fallon.
But parking along Miracle Mile has also gotten easier for those who don’t want to deal with a valet and would rather park themselves.
The city, has, however, converted all of its centralized valet locations into takeout and pickup zones, she said.
There are now signs marked “10 Minute Take-Out Parking Only” throughout Downtown Coral Gables. You can park for free for 10 minutes at 45 spaces while you pick up food from restaurants that offer the service.
In addition, Coral Gables added several more of these 10-minute zones:
▪ The parking lot 25 adjacent to Giralda Plaza.
▪ The 200 block of Andalusia Avenue near Chocolate Fashion.
▪ The 2400 block of Ponce de Leon Boulevard near Cheesecake Factory.
▪ The 300 block of Aragon Avenue in front of Caffe Abbracci.
▪ The 300 block of Giralda Avenue in front of Tap 42.
▪ The 200 block of Giralda Avenue near Terre del Sapore;.
▪ The 2600 block of Ponce de Leon Boulevard near Canton.
Sunny Isles Beach
The city typically doesn’t have valet for the commercial retail shopping centers in the city, so that has not been an issue, said City Manager Christopher Russo.
“With regard to the condominiums, it would be impractical for the city to put out a blanket order due to the fact that most of our buildings have a combination of individual parking spaces, tandem parking spaces, and mechanical spaces,” Russo said. “This is one that must be determined by the board of each building based on their circumstances. We would urge them to do the best they can to allow self-parking as much as possible if that’s what is desired by the residents.”
Miami Beach
According to Miami Beach spokeswoman Melissa Berthier, valet parking on private property, particularly at residential buildings, is deemed essential by the city. “Some only have valet parking and have no self-parking,” she said.
“Valet parking provided at curbside — where the city permits parking space rentals is not ‘essential’ because there are multiple self-park options at public and private parking facilities,” she said.
However, Berthier said that all curbside valet parking space rentals, with the exception of one supporting a medical facility, have been canceled at the request of the valet parking operator.
Miami
Similar to Sunny Isles Beach, Miami Commissioner Ken Russell said the city has not put out a blanket order because circumstances differ from building to building. The city does urge condo boards to look at the issue and make changes if deemed appropriate.
At the Icon Brickell, Baum said because the complex can move about 40 cars an hour, the board recognized early that it was something that needed to be addressed.
This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 5:38 AM.
