Sag Harbor Village officials have a conundrum on their hands when it comes to parking — a small village with limited space, and incredible demand in season — but should get full credit for pursuing some creative strategies to find a workable plan.
There are two parts of the problem: How do you manage spaces for visitors and shoppers to be accommodated on a rolling basis throughout the day? And what about all the people who work at village businesses, catering to those visitors and shoppers?
Paid parking can be used for the first purpose — the trick is finding the right balance between being welcoming and still nudging visitors along to open up spaces regularly for new arrivals. Charging for parking shouldn’t be seen as merely a money grab, though the income can certainly be used to fund further improvements, such as hiring seasonal traffic enforcement and improving the parking and traffic infrastructure. Still, the idea is that meters, or chalking tires, or apps that involve “buying time,” are about allowing a reasonable amount of time for dinner, a movie, and some strolling and shopping. But at some point, you’ve got to move on and let someone else have a chance.
Early attempts at solving this equation have had mixed results. Perhaps it’s as simple as this: Main Street and side street parking is gold level, the wharf is silver, and the municipal lot is bronze. If you park on Main Street, it should be for brief, convenient visits of less than an hour (or for visitors with physical impairments). That should cost a bit. If you stay longer than an hour, though, the cost should go up sharply.
Long Wharf, if its best use is as a parking lot (as it’s been for years), should be for longer visits, a couple of hours at a time, but it should be a premium because of its convenience. And the municipal lots and other designated spots a short distance away from the business district, including the gas ball lot — which, it must be said, are still quite convenient — should be the cheapest and most accommodating for longer periods of time.
But not for workers — and that’s where the village deserves a gold star for a creative solution. Using the school lots, and perhaps church lots, for employee parking, with a dedicated shuttle to bring workers into the village center, is a perfect solution — and a place where some of the parking revenue might be used to cover costs. It might be tough, but it has to come with penalties for workers who take up parking that’s better set aside for visitors who are coming to spend money.
What about residents? No question — full-time residents of the village and its environs deserve a break, but not necessarily a free ride. The school and church lots should be free, and maybe residents can park for less than an hour anywhere else at no cost through an app or other system. Longer visits? Maybe there’s a more favorable rate for year-round residents, but if the idea is to encourage turnover, allowing free parking defeats that purpose.
None of this is simple, and there isn’t a perfect solution — and, as many have noted, there are issues with cellphone signals and Wi-Fi service that make the apps less effective than they could be. It’s going to take some trial-and-error to get it all right, and that means a couple of seasons to test out some elements.
If everyone is patient, and if the village continues to experiment and — this is crucial — listen to the feedback afterward, it could be a path toward an actual working system for parking in Sag Harbor beyond circling for 45 minutes and praying.
