Business owners and Great Neck Plaza residents voiced opinions Wednesday about parking recommendations a consultant made in December to alleviate parking congestion and limited available spots within the village.
Plaza resident Jonathan Stein said he was concerned that a parking report given last month would not be made public and lead to increased meter rates.
Village Mayor Jean Celender replied that no official report was made and that the parking consultant, Jerry Giosa of Level G Associates, only made a series of recommendations to the board about how to alleviate its parking concerns.
She said the recommendations were only preliminary findings, the meeting announcement was made public and that information on the preliminary findings were disseminated through the village’s digital newsletter.
“Level G Associates, a parking consultant hired in August, conducted field observations, we worked out a scope of work for him to do and did his research,” Celender said. “He met with the [Great Neck] Chamber of Commerce and presented preliminary study findings. He didn’t present a report. He’s working on developing report to present.”
Giosa told trustees in December that the main issues the village faces are with employees of local businesses using spaces allocated for shoppers, a dearth of merchant parking and that there is not enough turnover of vehicles in existing spaces.
He did give some recommendations – including shortening parking time on Moddle Neck Road from a two-hour limit to an hour and a half, increasing parking fees to 50 cents per hour and shortening the parking limit in Gussack Plaza from its current four hours. The board took no action at the time.
“I ask the board to move to make the report public, as is customary from time to time, and let public review report,” Stein said.
Trustee Ted Rosen said if and when there is a report give to the board, its contents will be made public, and that any change to local laws would go through a public hearing process.
“[Stein’s request] implies the report would not be made public,” Rosen said. “I don’t understand why someone would think it would not be made public.”
Local business owners also expressed their concerns to the board about how the parking situation is adversely affecting their businesses.
Mark Wolf of Camp and Campus, located at 42 Middle Neck Road, said the meters should stay at their two-hour limit, but the cost to be park should be increased. He said there isn’t any turnover in the lots, and that it has a negative impact on businesses.
Steven Dann, owner of Steven Dann, a shoe store located at 81 Middle Neck Road, said reducing the meters to an hour and a half time limit would be an issue for businesses.
“People are always on edge in the store,” Dann said. “There is a stigma about parking in Great Neck.”
Dann said the village needs a place where patrons of downtown businesses can park without the worry of getting a ticket.
