Greenport Village exploring options to solve loading zone issues

With Greenport’s streets more congested than ever, village officials are hoping to take steps to better manage loading zones in the downtown area.

“We’re trying to find spots for trucks to do deliveries without blocking traffic,” Mayor George Hubbard Jr. said Friday.

At a village board meeting last Thursday, officials voted to set a June 24 hearing on changes to the code that would help alleviate some issues raised by business owners in recent months.

The board took the issue up last summer after 45 business owners submitted a petition lobbying the village to allow them to park in front of their businesses through a sticker program or similar means.

It asked for leniency, since many of those prime parking spots are timed. Some business owners said the measure would provide easier access when dropping off materials to their stores, though village officials disagreed, arguing that store owners using those spots makes parking for customers more challenging. 

Board members reviewed proposed maps of loading zones during a work session in March.

The new plan would extend an existing loading zone along Adams Street on the south side between First and Third streets. Trustee Peter Clarke asked if that would create traffic flow problems along the two-way street. 

But village administrator Paul Pallas said there are times when that area’s already being used as a loading zone — on both sides of the street — and it’s never prompted a complaint. “So this would, in some ways, codify what actually happens,” Mr. Pallas said during the March 18 work session.

Officials said a loading zone would also be codified along Central Avenue to serve the northern part of the village.

At the work session, Mayor Hubbard said it may be difficult to locate a zone along lower Main Street. In addition, two existing loading zones within the code — one on the south side of Front Street near Texaco Alley and one near the IGA Supermarket — would be removed under the code change. “You can’t even do that anymore where those two spots are … [it’s] no longer feasible,” Mr. Pallas explained.

Trustee Mary Bess Phillips suggested using timed loading zones that are commonly used in New York City and Mr. Pallas noted that the code already includes time constraints for some loading zones. “We would assign them and stripe them and enforce them to that extent,” he said.

In addition to loading zones, Mr. Hubbard said the code change would also delineate a 100-foot no-parking zone behind the firehouse to help fire trucks enter and exit the property with more ease.

The hearing will be held June 24 at 7 p.m.

Village officials are still finalizing amendments to the loading zones, which are expected to be released ahead of the public hearing.