Mayor Margot Garant was joined with all the different groups who made the new Barnum Avenue parking lot possible this week at a official “ribbon cutting.” Photo by Julianne Mosher
The Barnum Avenue parking lot is officially open and ready to be used.
As part of the village’s downtown revitalization project, the lot was upgraded to include 46 new parking spaces, an electric vehicle charging station and filtration system to mitigate flooding and stormwater runoff.
On Tuesday, May 11, village officials, along with the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce and representatives from the county and state, celebrated its grand opening.
“We are very, very proud of this new parking lot,” said Mayor Margot Garant. “This is the first new parking lot in the Village of Port Jefferson in over 50 years. I think that’s amazing.”
And it started about six years ago when there was a vision to remove an eyesore and put in something new.
Located east of the Joe Erland baseball field, an old, vacant building was once located on the property.
The Barnum Avenue parking lot. Photo by Julianne Mosher
The several-year-long process to remove the building, clean it up and turn it into a free municipal lot that is futuristic in its amenities finally came to fruition in March of this year.
The new 32,000-square-foot lot includes 46 new spaces oriented diagonally, including two handicap spots and two EV charging stations. The lot has a one-way entrance, to help alleviate traffic congestion.
Almost entirely technology-driven, the lot is free to everyone — all a visitor has to do is register with the barcode scan.
“We’re trying to encourage most of our merchants and their employees to park here for free to keep all the high proximity spots available for patrons,” she said. “That way, they can have a better turnover at your shop or your restaurant.”
Garant added that last week, the village had over 4,800 parking sessions with a revenue just under $12,000.
“That means we are back to a pre-pandemic number, folks,” she said.
The lot came to be thanks to a $200,000 jumpstart grant from Suffolk County back in 2019. The funding also helped make the lot eco-friendly, adding bioswales bordering the foot entrance on Barnum Avenue to aid in flood mitigation. Those bioswales help with stormwater runoff.
“Being conscious of stormwater runoff, and what it can do — the damage it can cause to the harbor — and making sure that when we add asphalt, we are collecting the water and it’s not bringing contaminants into our bays and waterways, that was critically important to this project,” said Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket).
Overnight parking not permitted and will be tracked.
Jefferson’s Townsend House, shown in 1908, was located on the corner of Main and East Main streets. Under the Parking District Plan, the historic building would have been demolished and replaced with Woodard Square. Photo by Arthur S. Greene. Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive
By Kenneth Brady
Visiting the beautiful downtown Port Jefferson of today, it seems inconceivable that the village’s commercial center of the 1950s was thought to be dead, stagnant and depressing.
Businesses were leaving Port Jefferson and relocating along major highways and at malls, where in contrast to the village, there was adequate parking for customers.
Abandoned by some merchants, Port Jefferson’s shopping section was characterized in local newspapers as ramshackle and dilapidated.
pictures five of the proposed parking lots within the Port Jefferson Parking District. The construction of the squares would have entailed the demolition of historic buildings in the village’s commercial center. Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive
Absentee landlords were lambasted for not razing structures that had been gutted by fire, particularly burnt-out properties along the village’s East Main Street and East Broadway, while indifferent businessmen were faulted for running drab, seedy stores with dirty, unimaginative window displays and dated, limited stock.
Making matters worse, heavy trucks rumbled through downtown Port Jefferson day and night hauling oil, sand, stone, gravel and fly ash from the various industries along the village’s waterfront. According to critics, the lumbering vehicles created noise, dust, spillageand traffic problems on the streets in Port Jefferson’s business district, driving potential customers away.
In 1957, the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce conducted a study to determine what could be done to revive the village’s ailing retail center and found that 87% of the shoppers surveyed were dissatisfied with parking conditions in Port Jefferson. The report called for enlarging public lots, routing trucks off Main Street, relocating store entrances and other suggestions.
In response to these recommendations, Brookhaven Town appropriated $20,000 in 1960 for a Parking District Committee to study the creation of a Port Jefferson Parking District. In 1961, the committee proposed the establishment of seven parking areas in the village including “Crystal Lake Square” and “Round the Block Square.”
The construction of these lots would have entailed the demolition of historic buildings in Port Jefferson’s downtown business district such as the Townsend House and Aldrich House both of which would have been razed and replaced with the asphalt of “Woodard Square.”
A public meeting was held at Port Jefferson High School on August 22, 1961 to present the plan and allow villagers to voice their reactions. Over 600 indignant residents attended and expressed their overwhelming opposition to the scheme that they believed would destroy the historic character of the community.
Many villagers were bothered by what they saw as the patronizing attitude of an “elite” that had decided that urban renewal, condemnation and eminent domain were best for Port Jefferson.
Residents were also insulted by the contents of a 132-page report that had been prepared for Parking District Committee members only, but had been leaked to the public, and had concluded that 30% of the homes in Port Jefferson were deteriorating, there were slum-like pockets within the village and Port Jefferson’s citizens were poor and aged.
While conceding that improvements were warranted and long overdue, many villagers were miffed that control over parking would have been placed in the hands of a distant Brookhaven Town Board in Patchogue, not the people who actually lived in Port Jefferson.
Brookhaven Town’s unwavering support of the parking plan, even as most villagers emphatically rejected the proposal, sparked the creation of the Port Jefferson Property Owners Association. Organized in September 1961, the civic group soon formed a committee to study incorporation.
Jefferson’s Townsend House, shown in 1908, was located on the corner of Main and East Main streets. Under the Parking District Plan, the historic building would have been demolished and replaced with Woodard Square. Photo by Arthur S. Greene. Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive
The idea of home rule was not new to Port Jefferson. As early as 1895, the Ladies Village Improvement Society of Port Jefferson had called for incorporation, but the parking plan and an indifferent Brookhaven Town Board had prodded villagers into action and awakened a sleeping lion.
On Dec. 7, 1962, by a 2-1 margin, Port Jefferson’s residents voted to incorporate, deciding in favor of local control and the right to govern independent of Brookhaven Town.
The Parking District Plan was dead.
Kenneth Brady has served as the Port Jefferson Village Historian and president of the Port Jefferson Conservancy, as well as on the boards of the Suffolk County Historical Society, Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and Port Jefferson Historical Society. He is a longtime resident of Port Jefferson.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Smithtown Town Supervisor Ed Wehrheim cut the ribbon at the new parking lot on Pulaski Road. Photo by Julianne Mosher
Town officials joined together to celebrate the completion of a new municipal parking lot located on Pulaski Road in downtown Kings Park.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Smithtown Town Supervisor Ed Wehrheim cut the ribbon at the new parking lot on Pulaski Road. Photo by Julianne Mosher
On Monday, Nov. 23, Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) was joined by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) to mark the new parking spaces and its quick completion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“This completed project, finished just one year from the date of award, comes at a crucial time when many restaurants have used portions of their parking lots to expand outdoor dining,” Wehrheim said. “However, in the long term, the municipal lot will create a more pedestrian-friendly downtown that supports walkability, increases foot traffic to local businesses and decreases traffic congestion.”
In October last year, Bellone signed a bill awarding the Town of Smithtown $500,000 in county Jumpstart funding to build the lot in downtown Kings Park on Pulaski Road, right off of Main Street. The Jumpstart program is part of a comprehensive economic development plan designed to encourage, foster and enhance the planning and developments of Suffolk’s downtowns. Since 2013, the county has awarded almost $14.5 million in funds.
“The fact that we’re standing in this parking lot today, basically a year from when this bill was signed, is an extraordinary act of efficiency and excellence by the Town of Smithtown,” Bellone said. “My hat’s off to you and your team for getting this done.”
The new lot features 23 spaces and several electric charging stations. To celebrate the upcoming holidays, the Kings Park Chamber of Commerce decorated the lot with festive wreaths.
“You don’t often describe parking lots as beautiful,” Bellone added. “But this is a beautiful parking lot.”
The lot will help small business, as parking is a constant concern in local downtowns, especially with spots taken over by outdoor dining. Members from the chamber of commerce and the officials in attendance all agreed that shopping and dining in downtowns will help the local economy.
“The small business community has been hard hit across Long Island,” said Vision Long Island’s Eric Alexander. “A government that listened on multiple levels and funded — this is how you do good downtown projects. This is wonderful.”
According to Wehrheim, the Kings Park Downtown Market Analysis and Action Plan was completed by Larisa Ortiz Associates in 2017. The study determined that businesses along “restaurant row” were suffering due to a lack of sufficient parking. The analysis was backed up by public polling from both residents and business owners.
“We have to do everything that we can to support small businesses, not only to survive this crisis, but to get back to thriving,” Bellone said. “We will get through this and we will overcome this.”
Planned changes to area around Barnum Avenue and Route 25A. Photo from PJ planning department
Port Jefferson village has long been dealing with issues of parking and attracting more people into the downtown, but proposals put forward by village officials and other property owners have received stern opposition from residents living close to these proposed projects.
The upstairs meeting room in the Port Jefferson Village Hall was packed March 14 as residents came out to get answers on several major developments coming to Port Jefferson. One details the planned development for a mixed-use apartment and retail space in the building that is currently Cappy’s Carpets, while another includes a new parking lot on Barnum Avenue.
The Port Jefferson planning board was originally allowing additional comments from residents until March 24, but they agreed to extend that until March 29 for the planned Cappy’s development.
Apartments in Cappy’s Carpets
Several Port Jeff residents said the Shipyard apartment complex, which only started receiving tenants little more than a year ago, left a bad taste in their mouths. Many who spoke at the March 14 meeting decried the Tritec Real Estate Company’s four-story 112-unit rental complex, and asked that if development were to continue, then they should learn from the last development.
The Capobianco family, which owns the property, along with real estate firm Brooks Partners LLC unveiled plans in February for creating a three-story apartment and retail space in the current Cappy’s Carpet shop at 440 Main St. The development would replace the existing carpet store along with the boat storage lot to the rear of the property.
The proposed plans call for 1,200 square feet of retail space, a 1,500-square-foot restaurant and a 750-square-foot fitness center on the ground floor. Above that would be 44 one-bedroom and two, two-bedroom apartments on the second and third floors. Also included was a roof deck and rooftop fire pits. Village Mayor Margot Garant previously said the building had remained at three stories in direct response to criticism over the Shipyard development.
Left: Cappy’s Carpets in Port Jefferson; right: rendering of new mixed use space. Left photo by Kyle Barr, right photo from Port Jeff planning department
In terms of parking, the project would include 78 spaces, with the 37 set in a parking garage within the development and 41 spaces outside. The parking spaces would require the developer to pay for four spaces in lieu of parking fees, due to village code parking requirements.
Sayville-based attorney Eric Russo, representing Brooks Partners, said the project would enhance the village’s walkability, especially north of the majority of downtown’s businesses.
“As part of your village’s master plan, your goal was you wanted to create a walking downtown and expand on the town, so it would move forward where it was on Main Street and continue upward toward this particular area,” Russo said.
Residents were quick to criticize the idea of a roof deck, saying that people standing up so high would likely be heard throughout parts of the village.
“We live in a bowl here, and if somebody has a roof deck on top of that building, that’s going to travel uphill into our residential area,” said Marge McCuen, resident on Tuthill Street. “I think it was very inconsiderate.”
The development would also go along with new projects to remediate traffic concerns in that area. The New York State Department of Transportation has said it will amend traffic concerns surrounding Barnum Avenue, including removing the triangle median where Barnum and Main Street connect, making one egress and ingress and eliminating the need for pedestrians to make two crossings along one road. The next project is to install a traffic light at the intersection of Old Post Road and Main Street in hopes of eliminating some problems of the accident-prone intersection during rush hour. Patrick Lenihan, an engineer with Hauppauge-based VHB engineering firm, said the state DOT has also recommended removing four street-level parking spaces on Main Street near the expected curb cut for the development.
Resident Michael Mart said removing those four spaces on Main Street would mean the village would be even further in the hole when it comes to parking spaces, not counting the four spaces the developer is willing to pay in lieu of parking for.
As part of the application, Brooks Partners conducted a traffic study with VHB. Results showed the weekday average traffic for Main Street was less than 18,000 vehicles per day in the vicinity of the project site as of March 2016. Saturday and Sunday daily volume during the same week was recorded at less than 20,000 and 15,000 cars, respectively. Some residents criticized the traffic study, especially for the limited time it was conducted, saying it should have also shown traffic patterns for weekdays, especially in mornings when buses take children to school and when cars arrive on the morning ferries.
“With your traffic study, instead of doing just one day in July, you should have done a day in April or May, preferably a weekday, make it when the ferries arrive,” said village resident Drew Biondo. “I think you’d get a better sense.”
“We live in a bowl here, and if somebody has a roof deck on top of that building, that’s going to travel uphill into our residential area.”
— Marge McCuen
Biondo later in the meeting asked if the building would be built on pilings, which the developer responded with yes, on over 200, which would take about three weeks to install during code-allowed times.
Mart added he hopes this new apartment complex would not get a similar payment in lieu of taxes plan the Shipyard complex received from the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency. Another $10.8 million planned apartment complex called Overbay, being built by the Hauppauge-based development company, The Northwind Group, has also received an extended PILOT agreement from the Brookhaven town IDA.
“We as taxpayers then have to pay the cost burdens from it,” he said.
At the village’s March 18 board meeting, Garant asked the board to look at the village’s code regarding roof decks, agreeing at the rate in which sound travels within the area.
Parking lot on Barnum Avenue
Port Jefferson officials are planning for a 44-space parking lot located on the west side along Barnum Avenue just after the turn on Roessner Lane that goes toward Rocketship Park.
The space currently exists as a gravel lot, and officials have allowed town workers to park in it for the time being. The site was once a house that Garant described as an illegal rental property. Officials agreed to purchase and demolish the building in 2017.
Plans for the parking lot give it a 53-foot buffer from Barnum Avenue and a 23-foot buffer from Caroline Avenue. These plans also include a new sidewalk with plantings along the edges of the proposed site. The board has stated its intention to eliminate parking along the northern side of Caroline Avenue.
The site of the planned parking lot on Barnum Avenue. Photo by Kyle Barr
Garant said the proposed lot would include a managed parking system with meters but no overnight parking and limits to the number of hours a car is allowed to park in that lot. A gate would be installed to prevent people from parking in the lot overnight.
Barbara Ransome, the director of operations for the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, said the new parking was desperately needed.
“We really haven’t had a new parking lot in downtown in 50 years,” Ransome said. “From the business perspective we really do support the additional 44 parking spots.”
The mayor added the plans for lighting include goosenecked, directional lighting that would focus their rays on the parking lot itself, and they would be automated to turn off at midnight.
“We’re very sensitive to the lighting,” Garant said. “The light will not penetrate beyond parking area.”
Despite her attempts at assurances, some residents who would border the proposed lot were not so convinced. Kathleen Loper, who lives on Caroline, said she has already had problems with lighting from the nearby baseball field disturbing her ability and her neighbors to maintain their sleep schedules.
“People have different work schedules — those lights are very distracting, so I can imagine what the parking lot lights are going to do,” Loper said. “If I wanted to live in Manhattan, I would have bought a house in Manhattan.”
Pat Darling Kiriluk, a Port Jeff resident, said she was concerned about the beautification of that space, especially with the Drowned Meadow House nearby along the same street.
We are never going to have enough [parking] availability,” Kiriluk said. “It’s never ever going to be enough.”
“The light will not penetrate beyond parking area.”
— Margot Garant
Others who live in the area already feel the area is dangerous for pedestrians due to high traffic along Barnum and Caroline. Tony Dutra, who lives at the corner of Caroline and Barnum, asked why the project couldn’t have an entrance off Barnum and an exit on Caroline. Anthony Cucuzzo of D&B Engineers and Architects said they could look at the idea but believed large traffic volumes along both roads would cause delays.
Garant has previously said if the project gets approval, she would want construction to start by fall of this year.
The mayor added the village may be able to enhance the crosswalk features. Other residents feared illicit activity happening in the parking lot at night.
Kevin Wood, village parking administrator, said current parking lots already have surveillance cameras and parking ambassadors, which would be extended to this new parking lot.
Smithtown town officials plan new parking lot for Kings Park
From left, Marc Mancini, Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone in the newly reconstructed Bellemeade Avenue Municipal Parking Lot. Photo by Kyle Barr
A newly remade Bellemeade Avenue Municipal Parking Lot in Smithtown has several local business owners excited. They hope it might not only attract more customers, but the floods that have ruined their properties in prior years will be a thing of the past.
“There was a big storm a couple years back and all of our stores got flooded,” Lisa Spica, the owner of Dance ‘N’ Things, said. “I have a lot of stuff on the floor, and merchandise got damaged, equipment got damaged. This new drainage is a beautiful thing.”
The parking lot, located off East Main Street, was once notorious for filling with water, at one point flooding the 13 businesses that it borders, business owners said. After several days of torrential rain earlier this month, Richard Daly, owner of RICHARD Salon, was happy to report he’s seen no hint of flooding.
“Now, it’s great. There’s a lot of new parking spots. Clients are happy, and more importantly employees are happy.”
— Richard Daly
“When it flooded, we just got used to it — lived with it,” Daly said. “Now, it’s great. There’s a lot of new parking spots. Clients are happy, and more importantly employees are happy.”
The Town of Smithtown finished its $490,000 reconstruction of the parking lot in August, which increased the total number of parking spaces to 139 while adding new drainage and rustic lighting fixtures. Mike Petrina, the manager at Smithtown Running Company, said that the additional lighting was especially
important to him.
“Before there was hardly any lighting, so the new lighting makes it a lot safer at night,” Petrina said.
Smithtown’s elected officials have municipal parking on their minds. The town board voted unanimously Aug. 14 to enter a contract of sale to purchase two vacant lots off Pulaski Road for a price of $280,0000 from Flushing residents Matthew and Marguerite Lupoli.
“We finally brought the Queens resident to Smithtown — we purchased those lots and we’re going to make a new parking lot, similar to [Bellemeade], but with off-street parking to help the west end businesses that we have in Kings Park,” Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) said.
“This parking lot was in disarray for many, many years, and hardly ever used. Certainly, this parking lot will be beneficial to these businesses.”
— Ed Wehrheim
The parking lot was closed for roughly a month before being reopened, according to East Main Street business owners, who said they feltconstruction did not affect their businesses too much. Most are now happy to walk to their cars at the end of the day without dealing with flash flooding or worrying about their safety.
“I even have some younger girls working for me and taking out the garbage late at night, sometimes we would just wait until morning because nobody wanted to,” said Erin Kahnis, the owner of DIY artistic signs store AR Workshop. “It’s much better now.”
Wehrheim said the town plans to install additional lighting fixtures and finish landscaping the gardens in the lot’s center island and along its eastern edge during the next six weeks.
“This parking lot was in disarray for many, many years, and hardly ever used,” the supervisor said. “Certainly, this parking lot will be beneficial to these businesses.”
There’s renewed hope among Smithtown town officials that they might be able to pave a parking lot to bring Kings Park downstreet one step closer to paradise — or at least revitalization.
Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) asked his town council members to consider moving forward with getting a real estate appraisal of two vacant lots off Pulaski Road in Kings Park for future use as municipal parking at the Feb. 20 work session. The issue will go before the town board Feb. 22, at 7p.m. for approval.
“[The town attorney] believes that things may have changed,” Wehrheim said. “This might be a good opportunity to look at it.”
The two adjacent wooded lots measure approximately 12,800 square feet, according to town spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo, and are located south of Park Bake Shop off the intersection of Pulaski Road and Main Street.
This is the second appraisal the town will solicit of the properties owned by Matthew Lupoli, as Smithtown officials previously considered purchasing the land in 2013-14.
A petition started by Park Bake Shop owners, Lucy and Gabe Shtanko, in 2013 received more than 600 signatures from Kings Park residents asking town officials to purchase the lot for municipal parking. Wehrheim said a 2014 appraisal determined its fair market price at $230,000, but Lupoli wasn’t interested in selling at that time.
There is a Smithtown Town municipal parking lot across the street from the Kings Park Fire Department on Main Street, next to the Kings Park branch of the public library. But truth be told, Kings Park could possibly use a little more.
The western portion of Main Street — dubbed “Restaurant Row” — is the one area that could possibly use more municipal parking, according to the results of a 2018 market analysis study of downtown Kings Park presented by Larisa Ortiz, urban planner and principal of Larisa Ortiz Associates, to Smithtown Town Board Jan. 25.
“The municipal lots are inconvenient for restaurants,” reads the 62-page report.
The Restaurant Row area, which includes several eateries such as Cafe Red and Relish, averages 4.7 parking spots per 1,000 square-feet of retail space. This is less than the two other areas of Main Street, known as the “civic heart,” near the Kings Park library and Long Island Rail Road station; and “car-centric retail,” which is centered around Tanzi Plaza and the Kings Park Plaza shopping center.
Ortiz’s other suggestions for improving the current parking situation in the downtown area include restriping several existing lots — such as Relish’s — to accommodate more spaces and increase their efficiency.
“When we all ran, we promised to help the downtown,” said Councilwoman Lynne Nowick (R). “We need to work on it.”
Supervisor Frank Petrone. File photo by Rachel Shapiro
For residents of Huntington continuously discouraged with a lack of parking, help appears to be on the way.
At the last town board meeting officials took a step toward construction of a parking structure in the village by approving the second phase of a feasibility study looking into the physical and financial aspects of the project.
Level G Associates of Old Bethpage completed the first phase of the project, and the board voted to extend their contract to continue their work. In a May report, Level G concluded it was both physically and economically feasible to construct a 528-space parking deck above part of the current municipal parking lot between New and Green streets. In the second phase of the study, Level G will finalize the various models, estimates and projections used to draw its preliminary conclusions.
Phase two will include a functional plan for the proposed deck, financing models and revenue projections. The expanded final report is expected to be suitable for submission to financial institutions and other stakeholders involved in funding and financing the project.
Supervisor Frank Petrone (D) said he’s happy to see a plan residents have requested for years moving forward.
“This is an exciting next step in bringing the town closer to a long-term solution for the parking issues in Huntington village,” he said in a statement. “The question of whether to build a parking structure has been discussed for many years, and the fact that we are moving into a detailed study of how to make it happen represents significant progress.”
Moving forward with the second phase of this project is the latest measure undertaken by the town to address the shortage of parking in Huntington village. The measures have included forming the Huntington Village Parking Consortium, which includes the town, the Economic Development Corporation, the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce, the Huntington Village Business Improvement District and the Paramount Theater.
Other measures recommended in a study the consortium commissioned a few years ago have included instituting tiered pricing for metered parking spots, improving signage to direct motorists to municipal parking lots and a pilot valet parking program. The consortium also evaluated requests for proposals that explored possible public partnerships and a mixed-use structure before opting to consider a public project for a parking-only structure.
