Paid Parking Promises

Many officials in Sag Harbor and East Hampton are portraying app-based paid parking programs proposed in their villages as an experiment of sorts, one that will allow them to take stock next fall and adjust accordingly — or get rid of them altogether — depending on what worked and what didn’t. But anyone who has witnessed municipal government in action might point out that once the hounds are released, it can be difficult to get them back into the kennel.

So it’s essential to look at the proposals closely, anticipate the potential impacts, and make sure all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed — and, crucially, guarantee that the community has a role in finding the friction points before anything is implemented.

Both villages’ plans would use a smartphone app system implemented by ParkMobile, a firm that specializes in parking apps for local governments, and both would address summer traffic and parking problems, while generating revenue for the villages. But there are stark differences in how they would be implemented, and they should be considered separately.

In Sag Harbor, the primary focus seems to be tackling the decades-long traffic and parking problem on Main Street in the summer, when prime parking spots are hard to come by and visitors literally circle Main Street numerous times waiting for one to open up. In East Hampton, where parking can be a challenge in the summer, but not to the same extent, the focus is on generating revenue to eventually pay for a $20 million downtown sewer system. Both are laudable goals, of course, and both programs seem to be a way, at least in some measure, to begin to address both.

East Hampton Mayor Jerry Larsen and his board hope to generate as much as $2 million per year with the program, which would target summer daytime visitors, charging $2 per hour to park in the village’s main two parking lots from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Parking at night in the lots, and for village residents generally, would remain free. On-street parking would be free but timed during the day. On its face, the plan seems to be, at worst, a minor and inexpensive inconvenience to visitors, with a significant return.

There simply isn’t a serious parking problem to fix in East Hampton — there, it’s all about the revenue the plan would bring. Then again, if the long-awaited sewer system is one day built, bringing with it new restaurants and a nightlife similar to neighboring Sag Harbor, parking suddenly becomes more onerous. Perhaps it makes sense for officials to get a parking system in place now, instead of trying to catch up with it later, like their neighbors. On the other hand, maybe the biggest question is whether it’s the best way to pay for the sewers.

Sag Harbor’s plan feels a little more onerous. Paid parking would be enforced from 10 a.m. to midnight on Main Street and at Long Wharf, and there is no provision for village residents to park for free, like in East Hampton — a shortcoming that should be addressed. Also, the price tag for parking would be significantly higher: Someone parking for four hours after 5 p.m. would pay $27.50.

While that may seem pretty steep to those who argue that it would leave blue-collar residents out in the cold, officials are quick to point out that 75 percent of the public parking spots in the village would continue to be free.

Some Sag Harbor residents argue that the plan would change the fabric of the village, clouding the village’s small-town charm, a charge that has its merits. At the same time, one must ask how charming it is to have cars continuously backed up circling Main Street while pedestrians face the onslaught of the traffic. Lawmakers have been scratching their heads for decades trying to come up with a way to address the problem — and this seems to be a clear way to do so quickly and inexpensively.

One thing is clear for both villages: The proposed plans can be implemented immediately, with little or no cost to the villages, and no expensive parking meters or kiosks to purchase or maintain. If they don’t work out, and the villages reverse course, they haven’t lost a thing.

Other East End villages and hamlets will be watching closely to see how everything works out this summer, perhaps with an eye toward implementing their own plan to address parking in the future. Westhampton Beach, in particular, is in the process of installing a new sewer system intended to bring more people to the village, with all the benefits, and headaches, that come with it. Southampton Village is considering a similar parking app system, and Hampton Bays and its busy summer downtown might benefit as well.

Both plans do seem worth a try — with a clear understanding that the tires will be kicked next winter, and if they turn out to be lemons, they be scrapped in favor of a newer model.