Government

Greenport Village Board to discuss adding more time-limited parking

The Greenport Village Board is planning to hold a public hearing on a proposal to create more time-limited parking in the IGA parking lot.

Currently, the village code sets aside nine 30-minute maximum parking spaces. Those spaces are in northeast portion of IGA parking lot, facing the west side of supermarket building.

Trustee Doug Roberts is proposing to add 11 more 30-minute spaces in that same area, bringing the total to 20 spaces.

Village Board members discussed the change at their work session last Thursday.

“This will help us in the summer crunch,” Mr. Roberts said, noting that some residents drive to the Southold IGA because they can’t find a parking space at the Greenport store.

He said there’s been support for additional time-limited parking on social media sites, such as the Facebook sites where he and Trustee Mary Bess Phillips receive community feedback.

The IGA lot is owned by the village, so adding 30-minute parking requires a public hearing and a village code change.

Mayor George Hubbard Jr. said he goes to the Greenport IGA every day and has never had to go to the Southold store because there was no parking in Greenport.

But he suggested the board set a public hearing on the potential change for its December meeting, for which a specific date has yet to be set.

The village generally holds a work session on the third Thursday of each month and a regular meeting on the fourth Thursday.

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, however, the board’s next meeting will be on Monday, Nov. 27.

If the village adopts the change, it will also need a code enforcement officer to monitor the 30-minute limit, Mr. Roberts said.

At the same meeting, Mr. Roberts also suggested the village try to get permission from the Long Island Rail Road to use approximately one acre of land the owns on Fourth Street for additional parking.

The parcel, on the western side of Fourth Street, runs along both sides of the train tracks and is mostly overgrown with weeds.

Mr. Roberts believes about 15 parking spaces could be created on the section of the lot just north of the tracks and seven or eight more on the portion that’s south of the tracks.

The land to the north stretches as far north as the Railroad Museum of Long Island property, on the eastern side of 4th Street.

The southern portion goes as far south as an adjacent fenced property.

Mr. Roberts said all that needs to be done is to clear the weeds, put down a recycled concrete aggregate parking lot and paint some space lines. He said the LIRR told him that if the Village Board wants to do the project, they can start that process. Officials from the LIRR could not immediately be reached for comment.

Mr. Hubbard suggested the board send a letter to the LIRR stating their interest in the project.

The village would maintain and manage the parking lot and there would be no restrictions, Mr. Roberts said.

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