Kings Point Fitness owners Victor Bianchi and Jerry Cooney said their early-bird customers have recently received parking tickets, a first in the business’ 21 years of existence.
For the past two decades, Kings Point Fitness has opened its doors to fitness enthusiasts and those seeking specialized personal training weekdays at 5 a.m.
“Recently, my customers, my clientele, and my workers have been getting tickets between 3 and 6 [a.m.],” Bianchi told the village’s Board of Trustees during a public meeting on Tuesday night. “We’ve been here 21 years, we’ve never had a problem with it until recently.”
According to the village’s Deputy Mayor Bart Sobel, who ran the meeting in the absence of Mayor Pedram Bral, the village code prohibits street overnight parking without a permit from the hours of 3:00 a.m.- 6:00 a.m.
Middle Neck Road, a county-owned road, has overnight parking restrictions of 3 a.m. – 7 a.m.
“Are you advising your customers that the parking restrictions are in effect?” Sobel asked the two business owners. “The issue for [the board] is that we have an overnight parking restriction throughout the village. There becomes a problem when we lift a village-wide restriction on just one business.”
The business is located in the complex on 770 Middle Neck Road and according to Bianchi, is the first one to open every morning, even on weekends at 7:00 a.m.
Bianchi admitted to the board that not many people show up at 5 a.m., but those who do have expressed frustrations when finding tickets on their vehicles.
“Maybe upwards of six people will be coming at 5 a.m.,” Bianchi said. “It’s really affecting my business now. My customers are getting upset, they want to leave, and it’s hurting the business. We’re very much in good service in the community by helping them, not hurting them.”
Sobel empathized and acknowledged that he nor the board wanted to “harm the business in any way”, but reiterated the ordinances and parking restrictions in the village.
“It’s not a matter of how long you’ve been in business, you’ve just been lucky,” Sobel said in response to Bianchi’s reiteration of tickets not being an issue for more than two decades. “These restrictions aren’t put in place randomly either. There is street cleaning and other measures that are done in those hours… I think there is also a village ordinance that says business operating hours must be between 6 a.m and 10 p.m.”
Bianchi said their business hours on weekdays are 5 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Shiraz of Great Neck, which serves Persian and Meditteranean cuisine is also located in the complex and can stay open at times past 10 p.m.
According to village code, however, businesses such as ice cream parlors, bars and grills, and other specific eateries are exempt from those operating hour restrictions.
Bianchi said that the business he and Cooney run has struggled in recent memory in competing against franchises such as Planet Fitness and Equinox.
Though those gyms are not located in the Village of Great Neck, representatives from both said they have not experienced parking tickets, and have lots to accommodate their clientele.
The 770 Middle Neck Road complex also has a parking lot accommodating more than 20 spots, but Bianchi said even there, patrons of the fitness studio are not safe from law enforcement.
“We have a significant population of female and elderly clientele as well,” Bianchi said. “Sometimes they don’t feel safe when it’s pitch black out or walking all the way across a road at 5 a.m. It hasn’t happened in 21 years, and I don’t know why it has started now.”
Sobel and the board agreed to evaluate more options with the village’s Department of Public Works but did not guarantee that a resolution would be granted.
“Just because it hasn’t been enforced in 21 years does not mean that we can just change the law,” Sobel said. “We do have your best interest at heart and we will discuss potential measures going forward.”
