The Village of Floral Park is considering issuing resident parking permits to curb any future issues that may arise from people who attend events at UBS Arena in nearby Elmont.
Since the opening of the UBS Arena in November, residents in Elmont complained to Town of Hempstead officials that their quality of life is diminishing due to the masses of people going to the arena who are parking in front of their houses for hours blocking their driveways. Residents also said that drunken antics are also becoming a problem. After an emergency meeting last month, the Town of Hempstead board voted unanimously to enact new parking regulations that would limit non-residents from parking on roads off Hempstead Turnpike where people live.
The Village of Floral Park is looking to take a page from the town’s book.
“The Village of Floral Park continues to be in close contact with the Empire State Development Corp., arena security, Senator Anna Kaplan and Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages to manage the logistics of the impact that the recently opened UBS Arena is having upon the Village of Floral Park overall,” Floral Park Mayor Kevin Fitzgerald said at a recent board meeting. “There continues to be a lot of noise after the events and it is only winter. We have a long way to go. I assure you that we will all be working diligently to address the concerns of the village and its residents as it relates to Belmont Park and the arena as we move forward.”
Fitzgerald said that the village board and its administration is working with Senator Kaplan and Assemblywoman Solages for the village to be included on proposed sponsored legislation to provide the necessary New York State authorization for the Village of Floral Park to be able to designate a residential parking permit district for certain streets to address on-street parking by arena patrons. It is anticipated that bills will probably be in the various Senate and Assembly committees in the next week or so.
“The closure of the Mayfair gates, we have not seen a parking problem that has been witnessed in Elmont,” Fitzgerald added. “Once the full time train station for Elmont in Bellerose Terrace opens, it is conceivable that arena patrons will park in Floral Park, take the train two stops and go to the event. We need to come up with streets that we want to see allow have parking permits for residents.”
It would be cost effective and less time consuming for people to park on the streets of Floral Park to go to the arena by catching a train, according to Fitzgerald. The permit parking system would incorporate a large part of the village, which would include the entire West End, parts of Plainfield Avenue, Ward Street, Jericho Turnpike, some avenues near Floral Park Memorial High School, and others.
