Downtown parking

Riverhead plans to step up downtown parking enforcement using handheld ticketing devices that will allow motorists to respond online.

Riverhead’s “renaissance” will strain parking, and the town must act now on quick fixes while advancing longer-term plans, the consultant told the board.

Here's a wrap-up of actions taken at the Oct. 18, 2022 Riverhead Town Board meeting.

Town officials want to reduce parking time limits on Main Street from two hours to one hour to increase the “flow” of the downtown area. The Town Board last week scheduled an Oct. 4 public hearing on an amendment to parking rules downtown.

Several public hearings are on the town board's public hearing agenda Tuesday, including: code changes to implement the design standards of the downtown pattern book and require off-street parking for residential development within the downtown parking district. Also a proposal to allow owners of undersized lots to make certain additions without a ZBA variance.

A new downtown Riverhead parking plan calls for implementing and enforcing time-limited parking throughout the downtown business district to prioritize parking availability and convenience for customers and visitors.

Riverhead officials are looking to move forward with a parking plan proposed by the parking district advisory committee five years ago that would add about 60 downtown parking spaces by reconfiguring and re-striping surface parking.