NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - Once the signs are up, parking will no longer be permitted within certain distances of the intersections of Peach Lake Road (Route 121) and Bloomer Road (Route 39) and Peach Lake Road and Dingle Ridge Road in North Salem.
The town has received multiple complaints over the years about vehicles parking on the two roads and blocking the view of motorists trying to pull out onto Peach Lake Road from Bloomer.
Folks walking in the roads, especially on certain Sundays when Hayfields Café is holding its popular Cars & Coffee event, is also a serious problem.
It’s the lack of sufficient sight distance -- combined with folks speeding -- that has created a potentially lethal situation, officials said.
“Someone will get hurt. And that’s not if, that's when,” North Salem Volunteer Ambulance Corps president Kurt Guldan told the board at a recent public hearing on amending local vehicle and traffic regulations.
Police Chief Thomas Howley and police Lt. Andrew Brown also weighed in on Oct. 14.
Both urged the town to extend the no-parking zone further than what had originally been proposed.
They, town Supervisor Warren Lucas, and Town Board members agreed that it was just a matter of time before someone was seriously injured – or worse, killed.
“We need to stop it,” said Lucas, adding that the solution is “two-pronged.”
The town can ban parking but the Planning Board needs to stay on top of the café’s site plan and “what happens there,” he explained.
Planning Board Chair Cynthia Curtis told the board that she herself had a “near-miss” accident there due to, she claimed, the reopening of one of the business’s three driveways.
Also on the town’s radar was Dingle Ridge Road, which is so narrow that all it takes is one parked car to prevent emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and ambulances from getting through. Parking is already prohibited there.
121 Restaurant & Bar, which is located on the corner of Dingle Ridge and Peach Lake Road, has a lot for its own customers and employees.
To prevent folks from parking where they shouldn’t, it puts out traffic cones, said owner Joe Savino.
There is also parking for his business property on the opposite corner.
Savino said he’s never had any problem with spill over, but if necessary he will rearrange employee parking.
He wasn’t unsympathetic about safety concerns folks have raised.
“If I lived there, I’d complain too,” Savino said, adding that he thinks that it’s the café that’s going to be the most affected by the new parking rules.
“It is what it is,” he philosophized.
Referring to the large crowds drawn by Cars & Coffee, a vintage and historic cars gathering, Howley said that the situation had “been going on for four or five years now, and each year it’s gotten progressively worse.”
“We’re at a point now where we get car groups coming from New Jersey, Brooklyn, Long Island, different parts of Connecticut, due to Cars & Coffee on Sunday morning,” he said, adding: “There’s just not enough parking.”
(According to planning officials, the café only has the approval for 24 on-site spaces.)
Up until now, police could only issue a summons if someone parked over the white line.
According to the town building inspector, James Duhigg, Hayfields is currently in court dealing with a code violation for re-opening a driveway that’s – according to state Department of Transportation regulations – too close to the intersection.
The business was recently sold by Renee Dayton and others to an entity known as Tiki 24 LLC, which is, according to online records, associated with Rraci Realty of White Plains.
Calls for comment to Hayfields were not immediately returned.
Halston Media contacted Tiki 24 LLC’s legal counsel, Donald M. Rossi, about the new regulations.
“The owners have no objections to the Town Board’s actions last week. Other than that, we have no further comment,” he said.
Deputy Supervisor Peter Kamenstein revealed – “for the sake of being absolutely open” -- at the Oct. 14 hearing that he had once been a partial owner of the café.
“At this point in time I have ZERO financial or any other interest in it other than to get a cup of tea there every now and then,” he said.
Traffic Travails
Traffic volume and noise around the bucolic community tends to get worse during apple-picking season anyway. And North Salem’s also a notorious cut-through – from Routes 84 and 684 – for commuters from Connecticut and other parts of Westchester.
Speeding in general is a year-round problem.
Howley recalled having to stop someone going a whopping 106 mph a couple of years ago.
As originally proposed, the parking restrictions included distances much shorter than local police had recommended.
Brown, for instance, pointed out Tuesday that the regs had suggested prohibiting parking from the intersection down Bloomer Road for only 300 feet.
“That’s just approaching the crest of the hill so, in effect, what you’re doing is creating a killing field on the other side of the hill,” he warned.
“People will be coming west, over the hill, and being surprised by people walking in the road, children, carriages, dogs …” he said, advising the town to extend it another 600 feet.
Howley backed him up on that and other longer distances that will hopefully be long enough to discourage folks who don’t want to hike that far.
Even if the initial intent was just to clear up the intersection, the town doesn’t want to create new problems, he said.
“You want to eliminate the issue, not put a band-aid on it,” Howley advised, adding: “If it doesn’t work, we can re-visit it and figure out what will.”
Council members Katherine Daniels and Martin Aronchick both agreed with police that the no-parking zones should be extended.
“Reasonable minds can differ, but I’ve got to go with what we’re being told by the people we entrust with the town’s safety,” Aronchick said.
Small Town Pressures
North Salem is a small town with a small police force.
In the fall, when out-of-town folks are leaf-peeping or visiting the local orchards, horse farms, or businesses, it gets very trying for officers.
“People complain about Hardscrabble Road. From the minute they get off the highway, I have people complaining … the whole length. Then you have June Road, Bloomer, Route 121. We can’t be all over,” Howley explained, adding that on Cars & Coffee weekend, “it’s bedlam.”
It’s gotten harder to catch misbehaving motorists too because of technology such as WAZE, a free, GPS navigation app that, among other things, alerts drivers to the presence of police and speed traps.
“Most people know exactly where we are. Then you have the few that still flash their headlights (to warn others about police). So, it’s become a lot,” Howley explained.
Even with the town’s new ability to ticket folks parked or stopped illegally on Peach Lake and Bloomer Roads, there’s some doubt about the kind of impact that will have on owners of high-end rides.
“If you’re parking a $100,000 car on the street and you get a summons for $30 …” offered Brown, making a gesture like someone ripping up a ticket and tossing it away.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t create litter,” he only half-joked.
The town subsequently agreed to not only extend the no-parking zones, but to add tow-away zones as an extra deterrent.
Parking by the Numbers
The regs take effect upon filing with Albany. Both the county and the state have indicated that they are willing to install the required signage.
Parking will be verboten on:
· Bloomer Road: From the intersection with Route 121 (Peach Lake Road) west on both the north and south side of Bloomer Road for a distance of 900 feet;
· Route 121: From the intersection with Bloomer Road north on the west side of Route 121 for a distance of 2,400 feet;
· Route 121: From the intersection with Bloomer Road south on the west side of Route 121 for a distance of 1,500 feet;
· Route 121: From the intersection with Bloomer Road north on the east side of Route 121 for a distance to the centerline of Dingle Ridge Road, 290 feet;
· Route 121: From the centerline of Dingle Ridge Road north on Route 121 on the east side for a distance of 125 feet.
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