The cost of parking at and driving on Riverhead Town’s beaches is going up this year, under a new fee schedule adopted Tuesday by the Riverhead Town Board.
The fee for an annual beach parking permit for town residents is going up from $15 to $20. The beach access permit fee (for 4×4 vehicles to drive on Sound beaches) will also rise, from $55 to $60.
The parking permit fee for senior citizens will remain the same at $5.
Applicable discounts for veterans, volunteer firefighters and EMS will remain in place.
The adopted fee schedule also implements a new combined fee structure, to allow people who buy permits to drive on town beaches or launch boats from town-operated boat ramps, to buy one combined permit — and display just one sticker on their vehicles.
A bronze pass includes parking only. A silver pass is for parking and the Jamesport boat launch. A gold pass includes parking and the 4×4 beach permit. The platinum pass includes parking, the 4×4 permit and the boat launch permit. Stickers will be color-coded accordingly.
Riverhead Recreation Superintendent Ray Coyne pitched the new fee schedule to the town board at a Jan. 21 work session. Board members voiced no objections and had little comment on the plan. It was not discussed again prior to Tuesday’s vote, when the board adopted the plan unanimously.
Tuesday’s resolution also set the daily parking fee for passenger vehicles and the daily boat launch fee at $35 each. It also set seasonal docking fees for the town’s East Creek Marina at $85 per foot with an electrical hookup fee of $350 per line.
Transient docking permits will cost $25 (daily), $40 (overnight) and $150 (weekly).
The recreation department is also rolling out a cashless permitting system this year. It allows people to use their smart phones to purchase recreation department passes at town beaches.
Parking and boat ramp passes will be available for purchase this year using the Viply mobile app. The Viply app can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.
Coyne told board members in January Viply charges the customer a $1 surcharge paid for each purchase. Customers will also have to pay the town’s 2.9% bank fee assessed on all credit card payments. The final cost of a $20 parking permit would be $21.58 after application of the surcharge and bank fee.
Using the mobile app is optional this year, but Coyne said he’d like it to eventually be mandatory so that beach attendants won’t be required to handle cash at the town beaches.
Riverhead Town operates four public beaches: three on the L.I. Sound — Iron Pier Beach in Northville, Reeves Beach in Riverhead and Wading River Beach in Wading River — and one, South Jamesport Beach, on the Peconic Bay.
Town beaches will be open on weekends beginning on Saturday, May 23. Lifeguards will be on duty from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays only (and Memorial Day, Monday, May 25) until June 22. Beginning June 22, town beaches will be open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., through Labor Day.
Residents with four-wheel drive vehicles may obtain beach access permits to allow them to operate on the Long Island Sound beaches from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m., year-round.
A fishing club permit or resident night fishing permit is required for fishing between the hours of 6:00 pm and 9:00 am.
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