Talk of Parking and a Privy in Gansett

The scarcity of parking in Amagansett’s commercial district, along with potential remedies and enforcement, were primary topics of discussion at the hamlet’s citizens advisory committee on Monday.

Supervisor Larry Cantwell, the East Hampton Town Board’s liaison to the committee, suggested that the configuration of the roughly 150 spaces in the municipal lot north of Main Street be revisited. Where the entire back half of the lot now allows what is in effect unlimited parking, a 72-hour limit would be implemented, on the northernmost row only, he said. The remaining spaces would have a 2-hour limit, save for three spaces on either side of the lot’s entrance, behind Amagansett Wines on the west side and the Amagansett Library to the east. Parking in those six spaces, Mr. Cantwell said, would be limited to 30 minutes. The changes, he said, “could free up a lot of these spaces for turnover.”

At present, time limits are loosely enforced, if at all, committee members have often noted. Throughout the winter, many vehicles were buried under snow for weeks or months.

Should new limits be implemented and enforced, Mr. Cantwell said, commercial and residential property owners could be issued a number of permits exempting their vehicles and those of their employees or tenants from the restrictions. He suggested a survey be conducted to determine how many residents and employees would be affected by the proposed changes, pledging to return to the committee with the results.

With Memorial Day weekend looming, “Time is getting short,” the supervisor said. “The sooner we can resolve the question, the sooner we can get something started. Whether it could start in middle of summer, I don’t know.”

After much discussion, the committee decided that there are more long-term spaces than needed and agreed to support the proposal.

The parking lot has consumed much of the committee’s deliberations in recent months, and on Monday night a visitor raised another aspect. Mary Lownes asked Lt. John Claflin, who attended the meeting as the East Hampton Town Police Department’s new liaison to the hamlet, whether a squad car could be stationed in the lot to deter people from “pre-gaming” — drinking alcohol in their cars — before going to nearby bars. The lot is sometimes littered with bottles and cans, she said, presenting a danger to children riding bicycles. “If they see a police car, it’s a deterrent.”

Scheduled foot patrols concentrating on quality-of-life issues happen on weekends and, as permitted, during the week, Lieutenant Claflin said. “I will bring it back and do what I can,” he told Ms. Lownes.

The committee’s seemingly endless campaign for a public restroom in the parking lot was derailed in March by the discovery that a restaurant’s septic system, installed in 2009 on town-owned property (the parking lot) was too close to a well on adjacent property. While the restroom itself met Suffolk County Health Department requirements, the department refused to issue a certificate of occupancy for it, anywhere at all on the parking lot, until the septic system is relocated.

“We continue to work with them,” Mr. Cantwell said. He invited committee members to attend a meeting on Wednesday at Town Hall of property owners adjacent to the parking lot and representatives of the library’s board, who opposed the restroom’s proposed location.

“We’ll see if we can find a way to reach a consensus about where exactly the restroom should go,” said the supervisor. “Hopefully, we’ll come out of that with an agreement and build a bathroom.”