The Patchogue Village Board is considering not suspending metered parking this coming holiday shopping season — as it has in previous years.
But Mayor Paul Pontieri stresses nothing has been settled yet.
“It really is still open for discussion,” Pontieri said during Monday night’s Village Board meeting.
It’s estimated that bagging the meters from Black Friday through Jan. 2 would cost the village $30,000.
“We’re looking at the costs” of creating more parking in the village, Pontieri added. “And $30,000 stretched out over five years, that’s $150,000.”
Pontieri was responding to the executive director of the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce, David Kennedy, who said the chamber would like the village to suspend the parking meters this holiday season, as it has the past two years.
“The majority of the board felt that the good will and the positive public relations that suspending the parking fees does for the community is worth the estimated $30,000 that could be lost,” Kennedy said.
The village instituted the meter program in 2014, designated some spots as paid parking while leaving others free. The program generated over $250,000 from the start of its first summer, June 2014, through June 2015, it was previously reported by greaterpatchogue.com.
The village’s plan is to use the meter money to build more and more parking, first with surface parking since it’s much cheaper than building a parking garage.
“A parking garage will run you $30,000 a stall,” Trustee Jack Krieger has said.
Kennedy told the Village Board Monday night that perhaps a compromise could be made this season, where the meters would only be suspended for a couple of weeks in December.
“Maybe the weeks close to Christmas,” Kennedy said.
Photo: Looking west down East Main Street in Patchogue Village Monday night.
