Greenport Village Board to Vote on Meters in March

Despite having already bonding for parking meters, striping, and signs last June, members of the Greenport Village Board are expressing last-minute concerns over the project.

After discussing the meters with residents and business owners, Trustee Mary Bess Phillips said not enough information is available to show where the meters will be and how much parking will cost, which has merchants concerned.

Trustee David Murray said he met with a group of merchants who expressed their concerns. He suggested he read an informational statement at next Monday’s board meeting explaining where the meters will be located and how much parking will be.

After working on improving parking in the village for three years, Nyce said the village now has regulations in the book and needs to enforce the regulations. He said the metered parking spaces will be on Front St. between Third St. and Main St. and on Main St. between Central Ave. and Front St. The parking meter units will be placed approximately every 15 spaces and that each space that is metered will be marked. The mayor said parking will be $1 per hour, with a two-hour maximum.

The village had individual metered spaces until Mayor David Kapell removed them in the 1990s to help spark business in the village.

Phillips has been working with the mayor on parking for three years and said she said she was “afraid people are not paying attention.” She said the merchants were not able to prevent business owners and employees from parking in prime spaces. As a result, she said there is no parking turnover in certain spots in the village and it is forcing business out of the village.

“People are taking their prescriptions west,” Phillips said.

Nyce said the parking meters are not meant to be a revenue stream and that installing  the meters was the end result of a problem that was perceived in the business district.

“If we have regulations on the books, we have to have enforcement,” Nyce said.

Trustee George Hubbard said that now the village is going forward with the meters in this economy, people are concerned.

“We’re all going to have to live with it once it’s done,” Hubbard said.

The mayor described last summer as a “soft opening” for the new parking regulations and the village has until July 4th weekend to have the meters in place. He said once the meters are purchased, he wants to work with the Greenport Business Improvement District (BID) to discuss placement of the units and educate people on how to use the meters.

The trustees will vote on the purchase of the meters at a special board meeting in early March because Nyce and Phillips will not be at the February meeting.