5/7/2014 - Huntington Board Approves Valet Parking Experiment

Huntington Board Approves Valet Parking Experiment

Part of municipal lot in Huntington Village to be set aside for free valet parking in effort to increase number of spaces available

In the continuing effort to improve parking in Huntington Village, the Huntington Town Board has authorized a pilot program to test free valet parking in one of the Town municipal lots.

At the May 6 meeting, the Town Board approved the program and the signing of a contract with LAZ Parking New York/New Jersey to run the operation, which will be tried in the lot south of Main Street between New and Green Streets. The program will be jointly funded by the Town, the Town of Huntington Economic Development Corp., the Huntington Village Business Improvement District and the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce. They are part of the consortium Supervisor Frank P. Petrone formed last year to explore Village parking options.

Experts have told the consortium that valet parking could increase the capacity of the lot, which currently has 215 spaces, by as much as 40 percent. Details of the program are being finalized, including the days and times valet parking will be available. Initially, only a portion of the lot will be set aside for valet parking, with the possibility of expanding the area if demand warrants.

The pilot program is expected to begin in early summer, becoming the latest in a series of measures implemented in response to a study the consortium commissioned last year. Last month, the Town activated multi-space parking pay stations on Main Street and New York Avenue; changed the hours for which metered parking is active (10 am to 8 pm, Monday-Saturday); designated a primary and secondary metered parking zone, with different per-hour parking rates ($1 an hour for the primary zone, 50 cents an hour for the secondary zone); and increased to three hours in the maximum a vehicle can remain parked at a spot. The Town also has prepared a brochure, available at participating merchants in the Village and on the Town’s website, which includes a summary of the changes, directions on using the multi-space meters and a map of municipal parking lots in the Village.

“All of us in the consortium remain committed to identifying and implementing a variety of measures to improve the parking situation in the Village,” Supervisor Petrone said. “Given what the experts have said about the potential to increase capacity, valet parking is an option certainly worth testing. “

In other action, the Town Board:

     -- acted on two measures affecting oysters in Town waters. In the first measure, the Board designated Duck Island Harbor and Lloyd Harbor as shellfish management areas and prohibited the use of sail dredging to harvest oysters from those areas (raking and picking will still be permitted). The move is aimed at reducing the number of oysters harvested to a sustainable level. The second measure set a June 17 public hearing on a proposed amendment to Town Code that would increase the daily allowed harvest of oysters from May 15 to August 31 to 1,000 a day (from the current 500) and allow the use of mechanical rakes. Those changes will help Huntington’s baymen maintain a better year-round presence in the marketplace

     -- approved appropriating up to $225,000 from the Environmental Open Space and Park Improvement Fund to support improvements associated with the Halesite Marina Reconstruction Project. EOSPA funding will be applied toward installation of a bioretention swale for sustainable stormwater management; landscaping; parking area reconstruction; and a brick walkway.

     -- authorized Audubon New York to hold two education sessions, on June 6 and July 5, at Hobart Beach to educate beachgoers about how leashed and unleashed dogs, camping, improper disposal of food waste that attracts predators and other factors create threats to the endangered birds at the adjacent Sallie Ruppert Bird Sanctuary.

     -- approved a restructuring of the General Services Department into seven divisions and the creation of a second deputy director position in the department.

     -- authorized retaining Young Equipment Sales Inc. for consulting services for the redesign and refurbishment of the Town Board meeting room as well as technical upgrades to the adjacent meeting room and the video control room, including audio/visual improvements.

     -- scheduled a June 17 public hearing on a proposal to make it easier for community-based organizations holding special events on town-owned or leased land for charitable purposes to comply with Town insurance requirements.

     -- scheduled a June 17 public hearing on a request to rezone the Oak Tree Dairy property in Elwood to allow for construction of an over-55 housing development.