Sunny Isles Beach Charges Two Prices This Fall, and Your Resident ID Card Decides Which One You Pay

How much does an hour of tennis cost at the city's newest park? If you book online with a valid Sunny Isles Beach Resident ID card, it's free. Without one, you can't book online at all, and the walk-in rate is $30 per person per hour.

The courts aren't the only place with a gap like that. Over the past few weeks the city added amenities, approved new parking rates and published its fall calendar. Each step widened the distance between the resident price and everyone else's price. The card costs nothing, but it expires every year and takes more than a week to approve. With Winter Fest wristbands going on sale Monday, how long the card takes to process now matters as much as having one.

The Price Sheet Changed in September

At its September 17, 2026 meeting, the City Commission approved a resolution raising the nonresident parking rate from $5.00 to $10.00 an hour at three of the busiest lots: Intracoastal Sports Park, Pier Park and Ellen Wynne Beach Access. The resident rate at those lots stays at $3.00 an hour. The same resolution lets the city charge $0.18 per kilowatt hour at electric vehicle chargers, plus a $0.10 per minute idling fee.

The city hasn't published a date when meters switch over. The Intracoastal Sports Park page still lists the old $5 standard rate, while the city's lot map already shows $10 standard and $3 resident at Ellen Wynne and Pier Park. Several other city lots and garages are listed at $4 standard and $2 resident.

Your ID card alone won't get you the resident meter rate. The city's parking page says the discount requires registering your vehicle in the resident portal and having a PayByPhone account. A resident who has the card but never registered a vehicle pays like a visitor.

Here is how the gap looks across the fall calendar:

For a family of four, Winter Fest alone shows the difference. Both nights cost $80 with cards and $400 without. Walking the Newport Fishing Pier stays free for everyone. Bring a rod, and the pier charges nonresidents $10.

The Newest Park Was Built Around the Card

Intracoastal Sports Park at 15800 Collins Avenue opened on Thursday, September 3. It has tennis and basketball courts, outdoor exercise equipment and a walking path along the water. Its reservation system shows how the city plans to manage demand, and the Resident ID is the key to all of it.

Only cardholders can reserve courts online at sibfl.gov/activities. The rules are tight enough to be worth knowing before your first booking:

• Each reservation lasts one hour, and slots start on the hour.
• Each household gets three reservations a week, no more than one a day, and only one court at a time.
• You can book up to seven days ahead.
• Basketball reservations run daily from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• You get a ten-minute grace period. After that, the reservation is forfeited.
• You can bring up to three guests per tennis reservation and nine per basketball reservation. Guests don't need to be residents, but they need waivers on file and pay $5 an hour each.

Hotel guests with a valid reservation pay $15 an hour per person. Courts nobody has reserved are open first come, first served. No-shows have consequences. Missing or canceling late three times in a 90-day quarter means a one-month block on online booking.

One rule speaks directly to residents whose card has lapsed. If you pay the nonresident rate but say you live in Sunny Isles Beach, the city considers a refund only if you bring proof of residency and apply for a card within five business days of the reservation. The refund goes through only if the card is approved.

The Card Runs on a One-Year Clock

Every Resident ID expires one year after it's issued and has to be renewed each year. The city asks applicants to allow 7 to 10 business days for notice of approval. Taken together, those two rules shape the fall:

1. Monday, October 5: Winter Fest wristbands go on sale. If you apply for a card that day, the city's 7 to 10 business day window means you may not hear back until the middle of the following week or later.
2. Friday and Saturday, October 23 and 24: Booogie by the Beach: Jurassic on the Isles runs from 7 to 10 p.m. at Pelican Community Park. Applying this week leaves enough room before it.
3. Sunday, November 1: The current Support SIB Local promotions end.
4. Saturday and Sunday, November 21 and 22: Winter Fest runs from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at Gateway Park. The park lighting is Saturday, with more entertainment on Sunday. A card issued before late November 2025 will have expired by then.

Some of the fall calendar costs nothing, with or without a card. The family movie night at Gateway Park on Friday, October 9 is free. So is the beach cleanup starting at Newport Fishing Pier on Saturday, October 10 from 8 to 11 a.m., with no registration needed. The City Bus is free seven days a week for residents and visitors alike. The Teens Only Halloween Bash at The Spot on October 30 is free too, though it requires registration. In Sunny Isles Beach, the card comes into play wherever the city charges a price, and this fall that covers most of the calendar.

What the Card Does Off the Meter

The card also works at a few local businesses. Through the city's Support SIB Local program, businesses propose a deal for cardholders, the city reviews it, and approved offers go up on the program page within 5 to 7 business days. Hotel guests can qualify for some promotions by showing their room key.

The October partner is Pizza Bianco, inside the Ramada Marco Polo at 19201 Collins Avenue. Its active offers run through November 1, 2026:

• A free half-dozen garlic rolls when you buy two whole pizzas of any size, pickup or curbside only.
• 10% off your total purchase, also pickup or curbside.
• Free delivery for a children's birthday party or gathering at a Sunny Isles Beach park or recreation facility, on orders of $50 or more placed at least five days ahead.

None of the offers can be combined. The October Islander newsletter shortens the garlic-roll deal to "with a pizza purchase," but the city's program page spells out the two-pizza requirement.

Beyond pizza, the city calls the card an all-access pass at Gateway Center, where cardholders can use the social hallway and game tables. Adult and senior programs give cardholders priority registration and lower program prices. The Fall 2026 Live & Play magazine says residents who show their ID at the new Welcome Center get a special gift.

For anyone who parks every day, the card also unlocks resident-only permits for the Central Island lot and the William Lehman Causeway Lot. Each has a $10 annual application fee and a $50 monthly fee, and you apply online.

Getting or Renewing a Card This Week

The card is free. For a new card, the city asks for:

• A government-issued photo ID.
• A current deed or a lease of at least one year.
• For renters, a letter from building management naming who lives in the unit.
• Two supporting documents from the city's list of accepted options.

Renewals need photo ID and current deed or lease paperwork, plus the management letter for renters. Every address has to match across documents. If your driver's license still shows an old address, sort that out before you apply.

You can apply or renew online, or in person at Government Center, Pelican Community Park or Gateway Center. Government Center and Gateway Center list Monday through Friday hours only, and Pelican Community Park is the one location with weekend hours. Once the card is approved, register your vehicle in the resident parking portal and set up PayByPhone so the $3 rate actually applies at the meter.

At Isabela Faria, we keep track of the city details that shape everyday life in Sunny Isles Beach, from new parks to parking rules, for the clients we advise there and for the guests at the homes we manage. If you're setting up an oceanfront condo for your own use or as a rental and want to know which city perks come with living there and which don't, schedule a consultation and we'll go through it building by building.