Village of Port Jefferson Launches Improved Managed Parking Program

Port Jefferson, NY, May 3, 2024 — On April 15, 2024, the Inc. Village of Port Jefferson implemented significant enhancements to its managed parking operation. The new program represents a major shift from control by a single administrator to a more efficient and collaborative approach, deploying Village resources from departments that interact and have parking-related responsibilities.

Based on recommendations from the reconstituted Parking Committee and with approval by the Board of Trustees, key changes include:

  • $1.50 per hour rate for all public metered parking, from 12pm to 8pm daily; free parking for residents continues without change;
  • Greater Code Enforcement to identify violations to foster increased turnover to benefit local businesses;
  • Improved “Text to Park” and QR-code payment options;
  • Meter/Pay Stations have been upgraded; nonfunctional stations have been converted to informational kiosks, for the time being, and will be removed in the next phase of the program;
  • Parking signage is now simplified and consistent, reducing visual clutter, and has been branded with Port Jeff’s distinctive blue and white colors.

“The Village of Port Jefferson has now created a real-time managed parking operation program that will be data driven,” said Mayor Lauren Sheprow. “The technology we use will help us continuously analyze parking patterns and allow us to further optimize operations and make adjustments to the program in real time.”

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Below is the April 22 report to the Mayor and Board of Trustees on the managed parking operation in the Inc. Village of Port Jefferson.

This is a progress report on the work being accomplished with respect to parking management operations for the Inc. Village of Port Jefferson. Significant steps have been made toward the opening of the full Parking Management Program. All operations have been in effect as of April 15th, 2024. At the time of this writing the software/hardware programs are running and adjustments to the operational details are being made.

The formation of the 2024 Parking Committee, the report of the Committee Chair to the Mayor (02/11/2024), the memo from this office regarding the theoretical revenue impacts of the Parking Committee recommendations (03/15/24), and The Mayor’s letter to the Public (04/05/2024) are a matter of record and may be identified as exhibits for background attached to this memorandum.

OVERVIEW – The role of a managed parking operation is to govern the availability of convenient and accessible parking stalls for visitors to the “downtown” commercial business district of the Village. Parking stall turnover is the only way to make available a revolving selection of empty and available space to park a motor vehicle. Many types of businesses constitute the “downtown”. Dry goods retail, office, take out or sit-down restaurants, residential apartments, business owners and employees, all compete for a limited number of available parking stalls.

Parking lots in the “downtown” area of Port Jefferson includes the area of the Danfords Lot, the Village Center, the Bakers Alley lot, Gap Lot, Arden lot, Traders Cove, Mill Creek, Tennis Courts, the Meadow Lot, Rocket Ship Park, and various other private lots, free public lots and street spaces.

One lot additional, the Perry Street Lot, is located “uptown” in the Village of Port Jefferson within the vicinity of the Long Island Rail Road Port Jefferson Station and operates as a metered managed parking lot all year long. Perry Street lot is generally not the subject of this report. In addition, the Town of Brookhaven operates a boat ramp and marina parking lot in the downtown along the Port Jefferson Harbor waterfront. The Village of Port Jefferson does not include the Brookhaven lot as part of the managed parking operation for the Village though it is an existential presence for consideration. The Brookhaven Marina and Boat Ramp parking lots are generally not the subject of this report.

The Offices and Departments of the Village identified by the Mayor to efficiently direct the parking management operation are, coordinating the simplification of the messaging and use of the Village of Port Jefferson managed parking operation and have met internally over a half-dozen times in the past month to arrange and deploy village resources.

The following is an account of operational activities currently being undertaken by the various Village Departments, in a truly group effort, to adjust the managed parking operation, particularly related to pay-stations (meters) and signage.

SIGNS:

There have been numerous observations made by people both internal and external to Village Hall, that the number of signs, with respect to parking, is in an overabundant state, confusing and bordering on visual pollution.

  • Removal – Upon review and analysis of the Parking Management signage, it was confirmed that the messaging on some of the signs was difficult to read, outdated, incorrect or conflicting with other sign information related to parking. Approximately one hundred and fifty-six (156) signs have been removed from the downtown parking lots
  • Replacement – Fewer physical signs will be returned to the managed Parking Program information network. At the time of this writing, new physical signage is being returned to the downtown parking lots. The goal is to reduce physical signage by as much as 30 -50% over the condition of the prior sign proliferation. Each area requiring parking signage is being analyzed (see “Data” below) for the most efficient balance between information and visually unobtrusive signage. This activity remains on-going.
  • Messaging – Messaging on new signage has been simplified. Information provided on the new signs is consistent in style and content. While there are still several distinct sign types, depending on the location (ex. resident lot only vs. public metered lot), all signage has been branded and colorized in Village of Port Jefferson Blue and White. Signs emphasize Text to Park and provide the former QR code as an alternative. All managed parking operation signage will indicate a rate of $1.50/hour, 7 days a week and enforced by the Village 12 Noon – 8 PM.

METERS:

There are twenty-four (24) meters or “pay stations” throughout the Village of Port Jefferson downtown as part of the managed parking operation. Users of metered parking spaces have the option to pay by cell phone (Text “PJ” to 75498 or scan a “QR” code) or use a meter/pays station and pay by cash. The furthest meter/pay station available to the public in the downtown to the east is located at the Village Center. There is a meter/pay station at the Danfords lot (furthest north) and the meter/pay station farthest to the west is the meter/pay station at the Village tennis courts. The most southern meter/pay station is located at the Roessner Lane lot. Not all the meter/pay stations are functioning. Approximately half of the standing meter/pay stations are non-functioning. These have been shut down but remain in the lot as information stations or “kiosks”. The presence of the non-functioning meter/pay stations has been a source of complaint from users of the Parking Management Program as they are too like functioning meter/pay stations and cause confusion as to their purpose.

  • Removal – Approximately half or twelve (12) of the physical meter/pay stations still standing today are non-functional. These non-functioning meters had been converted to informational “kiosks”. Information on the kiosks in the form of stickers, flier handouts and other forms of messaging was found to be outdated, inaccurate, inconsistent or conflicting with other sign messaging throughout the operation. Currently, the “kiosks” have been updated with current and consistent information. However, in the next phase of implementation, the kiosk-meter/pay stations are to be removed from the managed parking operation.
  • Replacement – The remaining twelve (12) working meter/pay stations have been re-programmed to accept payment for the new rates and timing. The meter/pay stations will accept cash or card and will provide pay by cell phone information (Text “PJ” to 75498 or the “QR” code).
    • In the next phase of implementation, more efficient and maximum use of the software programs and technology the Village has had in-house makes the replacement of the ageing and antiquated meter/pay stations with more compatible less expensive and easier to operate meter/pay stations in order.
    • The number of meter/pay stations to be returned to the managed parking operation is to be data driven (see Data, below) and based on pedestrian flow patterns and use of meter/pay stations. It should be noted that, while the evolution of parking management technology is toward meter/pay station-less operation or no physical for-cash pay stations, Data may suggest that while pay-by-cell phone technology is more efficient and may eliminate cash handling, tap to pay technology or regulations may require cash pay stations.
    • In the short term, one or more of the current meter/pay stations may be replaced as trial program as usage data assists in the decision-making process for hardware replacement.

DATA

It would be difficult to make managed parking operational decisions without empirical data. Derived data is fed into the planning process so that effectiveness and cost benefit analysis can be made on operations. All planning processes include study and then the implementation of a proposal, analysis of the proposal, refinement of the implementation, analysis and refinement, and so on. It should be a continuous process. Data is now being harvested by various departments to formulate a baseline for analysis moving forward.

The functionality of the parking management system can be assessed by analyzing a few key variables. The goal is to create a turnover of parking stalls. One way to achieve effective turn-over (it is noted that the time duration of 2 hours was recommended by the Parking Committee) is to monitor parking violations. No parking violations (presuming literal enforcement of the parking code) would indicate that no motor vehicle has been parked in a parking stall more than the permitted time span and has vacated the spot to be occupied by a new motor vehicle. A mountain of parking violations would indicate that the parking stalls are not turning over in the time allotted. Analysis of parking violation information can reveal much about the managed parking operation. 

As of the writing of this report the Village Code Enforcement Bureau is in the field calibrating instruments necessary for the determination of parking violations. The systems have been up and running as of April 15.

Usage information for individual meter/pay stations can determine pedestrian patterns and optimum locations for signage and meter/pay stations — the goal being to reduce visual pollution from signs and physical hardware of the managed parking operation. Limited placement in the heavily trafficked areas would achieve the goal. This specific data is currently being used with other data to optimize the management of available parking.

Revenue data can assist in determining programming for procurement of long-term managed parking operational and capital improvements. The Village of Port Jefferson suffers from the problems of success. A successful and vibrant downtown puts an increased demand for convenient and accessible parking. Maintenance of surface parking lots including snow removal, drainage infrastructure upkeep, paving repair and re-striping have a dramatic impact on operations. Seasonal and shoulder season revenue data can assist in homogenizing pricing of hourly rates and determining the efficiency of rates on turnover.

There was a strong statement/recommendation by the Parking Committee that there was no interest in eliminating free parking for residents. This sentiment is carried over to the business community, data on the distribution and display of free parking passes (hang tags) for merchants and the usage of available parking by residents with valid parking passes will be useful in future planning of designated parking areas for various segments of the Port Jefferson Community.

MERCHANT HANG-TAGS

For Merchants with a Business Located in Port Jefferson:

  • Merchant parking hang tags are provided directly to business owners through an application process through Village Hall. The business owner application can be found here.
  • The Parking Committee will invite all Village-based business owners to attend the next Parking Committee meeting and provide feedback about employee parking and the managed parking operations program on May 9 at 10am in Village Hall.

SUMMARY

The 2024 managed parking operation has switched from oversight by a one-person departmental administrator to a Village of Port Jefferson operational task force. This task force consists of high-level staff deploying village resources from offices and departments that interact and have responsibilities related to Village parking operations on a daily basis.

The Village of Port Jefferson has created a real time managed parking operation program that is to be driven by the constant input of data. A system is in place to analyze the data and make adjustments to the program as needed. Additional status reports will be forthcoming regarding analysis of collected data and operation adjustments.

The above is a report about all that is taking place with managed parking currently.

Adjustments to the managed parking operation program, as recommended by the Village of Port Jefferson Parking Committee and deliberated and accepted by the Board of Trustees, are currently in place. These include:

  • Stepped up data collection;

  • Increased emphasis on code enforcement;

  • Reduction of the number of signs;

  • Simplification of messaging on new signage; and, 

  • Planned removal and replacement of pay stations.

 

For more information contact the Village Clerk’s office at spirillo@portjeff.com.