The Village of Cedarhurst board of trustees held a public hearing on Oct. 13 regarding a local law authorizing camera-assisted enforcement in municipal parking fields.
The proposed law would allow the village to monitor parking duration, verify payment and enforce parking restrictions. Mayor Benjamin Weinstock said the cameras — license plate readers — will not automatically issue parking tickets.
“Someone has to make an observation that an infraction occurred,” Weinstock said. “If a car pulls in, pays the two hours, and the car didn’t pull out within two hours, we get an alert that this car is parked there longer than they paid for. They’ll get a ticket.”
Weinstock, who has served the village for nearly four decades, said the board wanted to ensure there was no ambiguity in village code.
“The current code doesn’t deal with this kind of situation,” he said of the camera enforcement. “Our current code talks about parking meters. We wanted to make sure that there was a valid basis for issuing tickets.”
As of press time, there are only plans to implement license plate readers at Parking Field 10, just off Central Avenue on Washington Avenue. The parking lot, which, Weinstock said, now has nearly 100 spaces, was renovated in May. The project involved the removal of individual meters from each stall and their replacement with a single terminal. Weinstock said the renovation will create less opportunities for damages to the meters and make lot cleaning easier.
The entire system, including the cameras, kiosks installation programming and staff training for the license plate readers would cost the village just under $90,000. Funding came from the village’s dedicated parking bank, which receives payments from developers granted parking variances.
While the special meeting had no public comments, stakeholders in the Five Towns contacted the Herald to express concerns.
“I wouldn’t be happy about new cameras being installed because I frequently visit my friend who lives on Central Avenue,” Caroline M., a Woodmere resident wrote in a text message. “If I park and am waiting downstairs to add money to the meter, but the camera takes a picture before I even have a chance to pay, that wouldn’t be fair.”
Gaya Ohana, a Long Beach resident who shops in Cedarhurst, said paying the meter is already inconvenient.
“I don’t always have quarters,” she said.
Weinstock said residents who are registered on the Sentry Mobile App by Municipal Parking Systems — the alternative to paying the meter — would be at an advantage. He said that if a driver’s license plate is linked to an account, the system would automatically bill the driver.
The village is considering expanding the system to 10 other parking fields, with more than 2,000 parking spaces combined. Weinstock said trustees have discussed plans to reconfigure Parking Field No. 1 behind Gourmet Glatt to improve traffic flow and potentially increase parking capacity.
