Plandome Manor debates parking restrictions on Circle Drive

Jessica Chin
Members of the Plandome Manor board at the July 18 meeting (Photo by Jessica Chin).

The Plandome Manor Board of Trustees held a public meeting Tuesday night on a proposed local law that restricts parking, standing or stopping on Circle Drive during specified hours. 

“The local law has been under consideration for approximately four months,” Rachel Scelfo, the village attorney, said.

Village officials said the proposed law follows complaints from Circle Drive residents that people are parking in front of their houses to use the Long Island Rail Road station or stopping to wait for passengers.

The law provides that on weekdays from 7 to 10 a.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m. no motor vehicle may park or stand on Circle Drive, Circle Lane, Colonial Drive and Janssen Drive.

In addition, the law would bar stopping on part of Circle Drive and Colonial Drive.  

Robert Ryan, a local resident, said that he respected whatever decision the board makes but believes that the no stopping portion of the law is “so restrictive that it’s overkill.”

He says the no stopping portion of the law would affect “theoretically everyone,” from delivery trucks and school buses to garbage trucks.

“We don’t intend for this to be that restrictive,” Mayor Barbara Donno said in response to Ryan’s concerns. “I don’t foresee tickets being given out to the UPS man, or the FedEx man, or the postal man, definitely not to the school buses or garbage trucks.”

Deputy Mayor Matthew Clinton suggested that the board amend the bill to move the no stopping restriction from the hours of 7 to 10 a.m. to an earlier time of 6 to 9 a.m. because the morning commute “is really between 5 a.m. to 8 a.m.”

Clinton said moving the stopping restriction to an earlier time may work better “to capture the drop-off of commuters,” to the railroad. The board agreed to adopt the amendment but the village attorney said it would not be able to until the next meeting.

The board will not have an August meeting; the next meeting will be on Sept. 19. Mayor Donno also accepted Ryan’s suggestion to reassess the law after a three-month period.

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