Initial Recommendations to Reconfigure Parking Regulations

East Hampton Village’s acting police chief, Michael Tracey, addressed the village board Friday about parking regulations on several village streets.

On Fithian Lane, he proposed that a no-parking zone be moved, to allow parking on the straightaway to the north side near Egypt Lane. That would eliminate the present parking along a sharp bend, which he called “very hazardous,” though legal. Drew Bennett, a consultant to the village, and Scott Fithian, the superintendent of public works, have both endorsed the idea.

The western portion of Railroad Avenue between Race Lane and King Street is now divided into three zones. One has 10 spaces with a 30-minute parking restriction, one has 35 spaces where parking is allowed for seven days, and one has 10 spaces allowing one-hour parking. “It’s a confusing area, and the signs are difficult for people to see,” Mr. Tracey told the board. He suggested extending the seven-day zone “all the way to King Street,” and leaving in place the 30-minute parking nearest to the railroad.

On Georgica Road, the suggestion was to prohibit parking on both sides from its west end to the intersection with Briar Patch Road. That section of Georgica, he said, is particularly narrow, just 17 feet wide in some places, as opposed to the 32-foot span typical of most village roads. “Even the parking of a car on one side would put you into opposing traffic,” he said.

Cross Highway, beginning at its intersection with Further Lane, is also just 17 feet wide, with little or no shoulder. Mr. Tracey suggested prohibiting parking on both sides of that road, from Further Lane to Hither Lane.

Lastly, the acting chief suggested that cars such as taxis and other vehicles for hire, and certain commercial vehicles, be prohibited from using the seven-day parking spaces on Railroad Avenue and in the long-term lot off Lumber Lane, which, he said, would eliminate commercial use of those spaces. “We’re working on language which would allow you to eliminate that advantage,” he said, “but it would also safeguard homeowners from being ticketed with trucks that are not commercial.”

Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. suggested a study of Race Lane as it nears the intersection with Railroad Avenue. Parking is legal at present on its east side, which, he said, discourages right turns. “If you’re going to make a right turn, it’s difficult because you cannot queue into that right-turn lane,” the mayor said. “That might be a location where you might pay some attention.”

Mr. Tracey said he hoped to have formal recommendations for the board by its next meeting, on Aug. 18.

The board also heard from Billy Hajek, the village planner, about a proposal to amend village code with respect to freshwater wetlands, which he said was intended to encourage the installation or replacement of conventional septic systems with alternative systems recently approved by the county health department. The release of nitrogen and phosphorous from conventional systems is blamed for degraded waterways throughout the village and town.

The amendment would exempt such installations from review as regulated activities, allowing homeowners to bypass applications to the zoning board of appeals.

“This proposal goes hand in hand with initiatives being put forward by the county and the Town of East Hampton,” both of which are creating rebate programs to encourage the replacement of conventional systems, Mr. Hajek said. “Since it’s something that we want to encourage, it seems duplicative . . . to make somebody go to the zoning board of appeals and get a variance when they’re simply replacing a conventional system with a technology that’s going to vastly reduce the amount of nitrogen that’s being released.”

Newly approved septic systems release approximately 19 milligrams of nitrogen per liter, versus 50 to 60 milligrams from conventional systems, he told the board. Applicants would still need approval from the county and the State Department of Environmental Conservation, Mr. Hajek said, but would then “simply go to the Building Department and obtain a limited work permit, rather than have to go through a process with the zoning board of appeals.”

The board voted to schedule a public hearing on the proposed amendment at its Aug. 18 meeting.