Get ready for parking meters in Greenport
Greenport took one step closer to updating its parking regulations Monday evening, with the Village Board voting to bond $100,000 for parking meters, new road striping and signs letting drivers know of the changes.
The village had once had parking meters, but they were removed during David Kapell’s tenure as mayor in an attempt to make Greenport more visitor-friendly.
But many people now park on Main and Front streets early in the morning and leave their cars there all day, making parking more difficult for visitors during the swamped summer months. The village has been wrestling with the best way to handle the congestion for more than a year.
On Monday the Village Board set the parking fines at $50 per ticket. Parking fines at fire hydrants and in handicapped spots currently carry $100 fines.
Mayor David Nyce said he hopes to have the meters installed by midsummer.
“I’m hoping for the end of July, but that might be ambitious,” he said.
The village has issued a request for proposals for eight solar-powered electric parking meters. A notice of the bid will appear in this Thursday’s Suffolk Times. The parking meters specified in the bids will allow people to pay by credit card, cash or coins. Bids are due on June 30.
Village Administrator David Abatelli said Tuesday that the meters, which can be used for multiple spaces, will be used on Front and Main streets.
“How they’re used depends on which meters we get,” he said. “We don’t know yet if people will be able to feed the meter all day. We’ll know much better at the end of the month.”
Greenport also plans to enter into an agreement with the Southold Town Police to provide a traffic control officer to enforce the new regulations. Mr. Abatelli said Tuesday that the TCO could begin enforcing parking regulations before the meters are installed if an agreement is reached with the town.
Under the new rules, two-hour parking is permitted on Front Street between Main and Third streets, on Main Street between Center and Front streets and on one side of Third Street between Front and Wiggins streets.
Parking in downtown areas of South and First streets and on Main Street south of Front Street is limited to half an hour.
