Politics & Government

Bailie Beach Road to Get Permit-Only Parking Signs

Tucked-away road in Mattituck is getting packed with parked cars right next to wetlands and residential area.

Members of the Southold Town Board voted on Tuesday night to place town permit-parking-only signs along the westerly side near Mattituck Inlet wetlands of Bailie Beach Road.

The move came after several residents of the road became concerned about what they see as out-of-control parking along the wetlands in their residential neighborhood — often by out-of-state vehicles.

“During the weekends it’s jammed — almost like Times Square,” said resident Dan Catullo at Tuesday’s public hearing on the proposed law. “They leave tire tracks and trash and McDonald’s bags and whatnot. We’d be happy to have some sort of parking restriction.”

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Catullo added that some campers who park several yards away from Bailie Beach on the Long Island Sound also leave diapers and their own excrement around the area due to lack of bathroom facilies.

“The craziness that is happening is overwhelming the beach,” he said.

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Related: Illegal Campers Litter Beach Sites

Southold Town Councilman Chris Talbot agreed that illegal camping is a “bad situation and only getting worse” but that the town has stepped up patrols at Bailie Beach and other beaches to the east with similar problems.

“We have to maintain some sanity out there,” he said.

Mattituck resident Ron McGreevy also supported the measure but said he wished the board had proposed no parking along that scenic stretch of Bailie Beach Road.

“Anything to stop them from parking — everything that drops from those vehicles goes into those wetlands.”

Related: Head to Bailie Beach in Time for Sunset


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