Live Music, Movies And $2 Parking For East Hampton Village This Summer

East Hampton Village officials appear to have settled on how they will proceed with paid parking in the downtown business district this summer — with mostly free parking for local residents — as well as on allowing live music performances to return to restaurants and other new events this summer that the village hopes will be a boon to the business district.

After much back and forth, most members of the Village Board said at last week’s meeting that they are satisfied with the latest proposal for the summertime paid parking rollout, which will charge $2 per hour for parking only in the village’s two main lots but grant village residents free parking for three hours and town residents for two.

All on-street parking will remain free but be limited to one-hour, and the short-term spots along Park Place in the Reutershan lot will still be free. Any vehicle parked in either the Reutershan or Schenck lots for more than three hours during the limited parking hours will be ticketed, regardless of residency. The parking fees — which will be monitored and charged with license plate scanners and a mobile phone app — will only be in effect from shortly before Memorial Day until just after Labor Day.

Village Trustee Arthur Graham was the lone member to say that he still thinks the paid parking proposal is the wrong way to raise funds for a downtown sewer system, which Mayor Jerry Larsen says is the goal behind charging for parking.

Mr. Graham said he thinks funding a sewer system, which has been one of his pet projects on the board, should be done with “user fees.” Trustee Rose Brown, who had been skeptical of earlier versions of paid parking, said her concerns have been eased by the shift to allowing town residents two hours of free parking.

The Village Board will hold a public hearing on the new parking rules next month.

Board members also voiced support for modifying the village’s special events laws to allow restaurant owners to apply for permission to have live music performances to accompany their regular food service, as a way to attract more customers.

The village has long barred live music but board members said they remember fondly The Palm restaurant, unaware of the restriction, had hosted local musicians on Wednesday nights in the winter seasons a few years ago, before being told they were violating village code.

“The Palm was doing it, and it was working well to bring people out,” Mayor Larsen said during the virtual Village Board meeting on Friday. “We’re trying to open things up and get vitality back in the village.”

East Hampton Village Police Chief Mike Tracey said that using the commercial special events permit process to allow music will be a good way to keep tight control of how the live music performances are put on, rather than a broader allowance like the town has.

“We don’t want a nightclub in the village,” he said. “You’re going to have to limit the amount you grant because once you open up the floodgate … This is nice and easy, and it’s one step at a time.”

Village Administrator Marcos Baladron also unveiled a proposal to host a nightly free family movie night in Herrick Park this coming summer, as Sag Harbor, Amagansett and Southampton Village have done for years to draw people into their downtowns on summer weeknights. He said he is talking to the Hamptons International Film Festival and Guild Hall about participating.

“We need more family-oriented activities for our community,” Trustee Sandra Melendez said.