Not so fast. Last week town officials had announced that a new electronic beach pass system would be ready to go for Memorial Day, but plans have changed.

Because the new system is not ready for the beginning of beach season this month, First Selectman Tom Banisch said the town will rely upon a system of physical passes for the first few weeks.

“We have a contingency plan to issue temporary passes to residents until the system is operational in early June,” Banisch said in a statement. “In a throwback to days gone by, you will be able to drive up to the gate during Memorial Day weekend and show proof of residency and you will be given a temporary hanging pass. This pass will last until the new license plate system is in effect. Starting Monday, May 20, these passes will also be available at the Beach & Rec Department office.

“The temporary passes will be free to our residents,” he said. “Madison residents can also buy $10 guest tags for their guests as they have in the past. They will be available at the Surf Club office and the Beach & Rec Department office. Non-residents will pay last years’ daily rate of $40, sold only at the Surf Club. Until the new system is up and running, we will have staff on site at the beach and will man the gates like we always have.”

In the past, residents would go to the Beach & Recreation Office at Town Campus to purchase a physical beach pass, a sticker for the car.

Under the new system being developed, once a user is registered, the license plate on a car will become the beach pass, similar to how the state parks run their parking system. Madison residents will go online to register their license plate with the system and pay the standard price for the pass.

The new electronic system will have the same pricing model as last year. For 2019 beach passes, taxpayers up to the age of 59 are charged $40 for first permit and $20 for each additional vehicle in their name. Seniors are charged $10 per vehicle. Veterans are charged $10 for the first car and $20 for any additional vehicle.

Once the system is underway, when a resident goes to the beach, there will no longer be a gate guard checking plates, which town officials hope will cut down on lines. Town employees—the Beach & Rec summer staff—will instead patrol the parking lot with a handheld license plate reader they’ll use to scan the plates to determine if the cars are registered with the town system as a beach pass purchaser.

Complus Data provides the system being developed. Town officials say there was no upfront cost to bring this digital system online; the company providing the software and license plate readers takes a percentage of any permits issued to cover costs.

“Because this is a start-up, we need to get tickets printed and other components of the system integrated,” he said. “There’s a lead-time of four to six weeks for this, so that will push our kick-off date into June. The good thing about that is that we normally don’t start our seven-day operation until after school is out for the summer, so we’ll be up and running before that.”

While the rollout of the electronic pass system has not gone as planned, Banisch said the goal is still to have a more efficient system that would increase revenues. The goal is to increase revenues by expanding the daily billable hours for out-of-town residents and by enforcing beach pass parking violations through tickets.

“I’m hearing that people think that we will be lax on enforcement and allow visitors to park without paying and then not pursue fines, fees, etc.,” said Banisch. “You should know that this can’t be further from the truth. There is no way we would create a system that would allow out-of-towners to use our facilities for free.”

For this season, under both the temporary arrangement and eventually the electronic system, the town will enforce parking until 5 p.m. The goal is to eventually expand enforcement until later in the evening to try to curb the rush of out-of-town residents who come to the beaches after hours, but Beach & Rec Director Scot Erskine previously said town officials decided not to go too fast, too soon this first year.

“We are only going to be checking until 5 p.m.,” he said. “The commission felt that we should ease into the new system and try to keep it as much the same as last season so as not to confuse people. If it goes well, then next year we can look at things like maybe expanding the hours.”

Banisch said he will try to keep residents informed about the electronic system as more news becomes available. He said residents with concerns can check the town’s website and Facebook page and reach out to him at 203-245-5602 or banischt@madisonct.org.