DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Big changes could be coming to Bike Week and Biketoberfest. Daytona Beach city leaders are looking to change what businesses can be in town during the events and where the events are held.
Main Street is quiet this time of year but come March and October, the street is filled with the sound of rumbling engines and hundreds of thousands of visitors.
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“People come down here in between the events and it’s a ghost town,” said Johnny Sanchez.
Sanchez owns the Rock n’ Ride shop and is one of the longest tenants on the street.
Near him currently are empty buildings. There are no “For rent” signs in the doors but when Bike Week and Biketoberfest come around, they’ll be open businesses.
“It’s rented already to the outsiders that don’t live here and don’t want to live here. They want to come here during the events, make their money, which is a lot of money, and then they leave with the money,” he said.
That’s something Daytona Beach city commissioners want to change. Right now, the pop-up businesses have to meet fire codes and a couple safety checks while open but if commission makes the vote, they will have to be code-compliant year-round.
It’s one of the ideas city leaders have tossed around to improve the bike events and Main Street in its last few meetings.
“We would like for our Main Street to rival other main streets across the nation. It does in terms of its name, but it certainly does not if you go down there right now,” said Mayor Derrick Henry.
He said they’ve also talked about changing parking lot standards, expanding parking, and expanding the master event plan map to give more areas in the city a chance to partake.
“There are some areas down on Martin Luther King and the other side of A1A that have been mentioned as possible areas for expansion,” he said.
The mayor said they want to hear more ideas from residents and business owners, so he’s encouraging them to bring them to the next city commission meeting on Feb. 15.
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