Traffic safety committee asks for parking ban on section of Pulaski Street

Riverhead’s traffic safety committee would like to ban parking in the heart of Pulaski Street’s business district.

A resolution put before the town board for discussion at today’s work session would prohibit parking on Pulaski Street between Hamilton and Sweezy avenues — directly in front of the Birchwood restaurant and across from several shops.

The resolution took board members by surprise. Councilman John Dunleavy, chairperson of the committee, was on vacation and unaware of the resolution being put forward, he said.

“There have been complaints about the intersections, about limited sight distance,” Police Chief David Hegermiller told the board. Highway Superintendent George Woodson, town engineer Drew Dillingham and resident Ann Carbone are the other committee members.

“Did anyone speak to the business owners who will be affected by this?” Supervisor Sean Walter asked. “I can’t support this.” The other board members agreed to pull the resolution pending further discussion.

Dunleavy said in an interview after the meeting that he believed the measure originated with Woodson.

Woodson said the safety of the two intersections was “brought up once before two years ago.” He said a resident of Hamilton Avenue has complained.

“I went down there and watched,” Woodson said. Motorists looking to cross or turn onto Pulaski Street can’t see if there’s traffic coming on Pulaski.

“You’ve got to pull out almost half way into the road to see if there are any cars coming,” Woodson said. “Also the street [Pulaski] is so narrow. Two cars can barely pass when cars are parked on both sides of the street,” he said.

“So we consider it a safety issue.”

Dunleavy wonders weather prohibiting parking on one side of the street will encourage people to drive faster.

“At least when it’s tight, people have to slow down,” Dunleavy said.

Woodson also pointed out that the town recently paved the municipal lot on Hamilton Avenue across from the Riverhead Fire Department substation. “That created something like 30 parking spaces,” he said. That should be ample parking for the businesses on Pulaski Street.

Birchwood owner Danielle Sessa disagrees.

“The parking here isn’t the best and they want to take it away?” Sessa asked when told by a reporter of the proposal.

“It’s not good for business,” she said. “I would like the chance to discuss it with them if they’re going to do something like this.”

Woodson saw the town board balking at the restriction as “just more politics.”

“Why have a traffic safety meeting?” he asked. “If someone was getting killed every other week, would you go to the businesses there and ask them? This is a safety issue.”

The intersections do not have a history of a lot of accidents, according to the police chief.

The proposal was shelved by the town board today, at least for the time being.

“This is not ready for prime time,” Walter said.