Signs, Signs, Where Are the Signs?

    It seems as if someone has been taking it upon him or herself to remove no-parking signs from a stretch along the south and north sides of Industrial Road in Montauk. The signs were posted two years ago to prevent patrons of the Surf Lodge from parking their vehicles on the environmentally sensitive strip of land that borders Fort Pond on the south and a smaller pond on the north.

    Another sign, which gives notice that parking is permitted only with an East Hampton Town resident sticker on the east side beach of Navy Road, was also removed. East Hampton Town Police Chief Edward V. Ecker Jr. said that it was either a winter storm that knocked the beach sign down or someone removed it. It was replaced this week, he said.

    The signs on Industrial Road went missing a while ago, he said, and were then replaced with new ones that were bolted to telephone poles by the town’s Highway Department. But they, too, soon went missing. They will soon be replaced, Chief Ecker said, adding that, regardless, a slew of tickets have been issued there.

    In other news of signs, residents of East Lake Drive are calling for parking-by-permit-only signs to be posted at a nature preserve on East Lake that in recent years has become more of a bathing beach. The notion came up again at a meeting of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee on July 8.

    Bill Akin, a former president of the Concerned Citizens of Montauk, said the strip of beach that sits directly across the street from Little Reed Pond is becoming bigger and bigger each year, with vehicles actually driving onto the small beach to park for the day.

    Committee members asked East Hampton Town Councilman Dominick Stanzione to check if the site could be limited to residents only. “If it’s going to be a beach, then make it a regulated beach with parking by permit only,” said Dr. John Sayers, an advisory committee member and resident of East Lake Drive.

    Also in Montauk, Chief Ecker said in an e-mail message on Tuesday that the Police Department would be conducting a code enforcement initiative regarding taxicabs, which have more than tripled in number in the hamlet this summer. He said in the coming weeks, code enforcement officers will be riding along with police officers primarily for taxicab enforcement, similar to what was done last summer.

    If police stop a cab for a vehicle or traffic violation, the code enforcement officer will conduct an inspection of the cab to ensure that it meets town code requirements.