Glen Cove bans non-resident parking in most spaces at LIRR lots

A recently approved law banning nonresident parking in most spaces at two Long Island Rail Road stations in Glen Cove goes into effect Friday.

The ordinance, which the City Council unanimously approved on Dec. 8, sets aside 90 of 150 spaces at the Glen Cove station and 90 of 138 spaces at the Glen Street station for residents.

Signs in the city-owned north lots of the stations warn that parking is reserved for drivers with vehicle registration in Glen Cove between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Nonresidents can park in the spots outside those hours and on weekends. The other spaces at the two stations remain open to all vehicles at all hours.

The fine for a violation is $250. Enforcement will be managed through checks of license plates.

Mayor Reginald Spinello said he introduced the measure because of repeated complaints from residents about full lots, especially in the winter.

Spinello said at the Dec. 8 council meeting that a recent check found that about 50 of the 180 spaces in the two north lots were occupied by nonresidents’ vehicles.

The mayor said that if the new restrictions do not solve the parking problem at the stations, city officials would consider issuing free or low-cost parking permits to residents who park at LIRR-owned and LIRR-regulated lots within the city, along with a limited number of more expensive permits for nonresidents. The LIRR can reject fee proposals for lots at its stations and prohibits municipalities from totally excluding nonresidents from them.

A recent Newsday report found that increasing LIRR ridership is leading to more lots that are full or near capacity throughout Long Island.

The parking crunch is expected to worsen as the number of passengers continues to grow.

LIRR expects to carry an additional 15,000 riders a day after the expected 2022 completion of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s East Side Access project that will connect the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal. The LIRR currently transports an average of 150,000 people each day.

The agency in the past had offered to pay most of the cost for new parking garages at stations in Rockville Centre, Port Washington and other areas with crowded parking areas. But municipal officials balked at the offers, in part because of the requirement that LIRR-built garages not impose residency restrictions.

Unlike officials in Glen Cove and areas with a parking crunch, Amityville trustees are trying to lure more people to the village LIRR lot in an effort to draw more potential customers to the downtown commercial district and reverse a yearslong decline in parking revenue. In February, trustees voted to reduce the monthly nonresident parking fee from $250 to $150.