http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20160430/NEWS/160439967

NEW SMYRNA BEACH – Richard Spikes has been visiting Flagler Avenue since he was a student at New Smyrna Beach High School in the late 1970s, when finding a parking spot was never a problem.

“You could stand on Flagler Avenue at 9 at night and not see a car for hours,” said Spikes, 58, of Deltona. “It was nice and quiet.”

Spikes and his wife still visit New Smyrna Beach on many weekends, but now they have plenty of company. The quiet little beach town has evolved into a crowded hot spot, complete with traffic congestion, long lines at favorite restaurants and parking problems that residents and local leaders worry might erode the area’s small-town charm.

Last year, New Smyrna Beach saw more vehicles — 469,132 — at their six beach approaches than at the nine Daytona Beach approaches — 440,271.

Historically, the Flagler beach approach in New Smyrna has ranked among the county’s busiest, rivaling the approaches at Dunlawton Avenue in Daytona Beach Shores and International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach, county staff said. In the October-March period, 49,502 people were counted at the Flagler approach, more than the 42,255 at Dunlawton, but trailing the 58,807 at ISB. Those numbers don’t even include the summer visitors who will begin crowding beaches this month.

In addition to weekend day-trippers, there also are more visitors booking hotels for overnight stays. County bed tax revenue for the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority is up 7.5 percent through the first five months of fiscal 2015-2016, from $621,637 to $668,512, according to county revenue department. The SVAA board of directors uses tourism bed-tax revenues collected by the county from hotels and other vacation rentals to promote the Southeast Volusia area to tourists and business travelers. It’s one of three such ad authorities in Volusia County.