Potter Says Parking Limits Will Be Strictly Enforced in Water Street Shops Lot This Summer

The boot is back.

People who leave their cars in the Water Street Shops parking lot while they wander around Sag Harbor will be in for an unpleasant surprise come Memorial Day weekend.

Adam Potter, one of the property’s owners, said people caught leaving their cars in the lot will be subjected to having them booted starting Friday, May 26. Violators will be forced to pay $250 cash to have the wheel locks removed.

“We have experienced a significant increase in people abusing our private — not public — parking lot,” Potter said this week. “Our tenants have complained numerous times, and we have witnessed people parking in our parking lot for six to eight hours a day.”

Potter added that tenants’ leases include a provision that guarantees them parking for their customers.

“I know people are going to say, ‘Adam’s just lining his pockets,’ or ‘It’s a public parking lot,’ or ‘We’ve been parking there for years,’” he said. “But we have to do something about it.”

To soften the blow, Potter said all the proceeds above what the parking enforcement company collects for the booting service will be donated to charity.

Potter promised local charities would be the beneficiaries and said anyone with a suggestion for one that would be a worthy recipient should feel free to write a note to him and leave it with the clerks in the Harbor Shop convenience store.

There was something of an uproar last summer when cars were regularly booted in the lot for about a month, with some people saying they did not see the small signs warning them that they would be subjected to having their cars booted, others saying they took a short walk elsewhere only to return and find their cars immobilized, and still others saying it wasn’t a very neighborly way to treat visitors to the village.

Potter said the booting was stopped last year once the word got out, and people stopped nonchalantly leaving their cars in the lot.

He said a larger sign would be erected this week, making it difficult for people to miss the warning. Cars can be parked in the lot for 30 minutes while customers frequent one of the businesses in the Water Street Shops.

“If you park in the lot and run into the Harbor Shop to buy a bag of chips and then remember you have to run across the street to mail a letter, that’s fine,” Potter added. “But if you spend a dollar on a bag of chips and decide to go to a restaurant for a three-hour lunch, that’s not fine.”

Potter said the system will be similar to the one that has been employed for years at the Malloy Enterprises property on Bay Street, where large signs warn drivers their cars could be booted if they don’t patronize one of the businesses on the property. He added that it reflected a new reality in which the village is charging for parking on Long Wharf. With John Steinbeck Waterfront Park opening right next door, there is a good chance that people would mistake the business lot for a public one, he said.

“People have parked in our lot for years, but recently the situation has become untenable,” Potter said, “especially with the launch of the new park. To make this a win for everybody, we believe we have to proceed with the booting, but the proceeds that come from it will all go to local Sag Harbor charities.”

Potter led a group including the billionaire developer Stephen Ross that bought the building that was formerly home to the 7-Eleven convenience store in 2020 as a future home for Bay Street Theater. Those plans were abandoned late last year, and the property was placed on the market for $25 million.