Poquott Suspends Parking Rule, Repairs Beach Access Path

Parking and walking to the beach just got a little easier in the Village of Poquott.

Friends and family of Poquott residents won't have to worry about getting parking tickets while visiting for the holidays after the village board moved Thursday to temporarily allow street parking between Dec. 24 and Jan. 3.

Normally, residents must fill out a request for special permission for guests to park on the street, but the village typically suspends that rule around Christmas and New Year's each year.

"Can you imagine how many requests we'd get?" village clerk Eileen Harvey said.

Mayor Barbara Donovan also said the village spent $1,000 to replace the wooden boards embedded in the ground which serve as steps at Steve's Path, a public right-of-way between two private residences leading from Tinker Bluff Court to Walnut Beach.

Steve's Path had been , when the village board decided the deterioration of the steps posed too much of a risk to residents. Since then, the village board debated a variety of options for the pathway, from permanent closure to the professional installation of concrete steps, which could have cost Poquott as much as $50,000.

Donovan said a resident stepped in to help the village make arrangements for a landscaping company to complete the work for a far more reasonable rate.

On Thursday the village board also appropriated $500 for the installation of a gate at the entrance to Steve's Path, which it has actually kept closed – now because of winter's approach rather than a physical hazard.

Donovan expects the gate to be more cost effective than the signs used in the past, which were often stolen, as well as more aesthetically pleasing than the present method of closing Steve's Path. Some have complained about the bright orange mesh currently serving as a blockade at the entrance.

"At least the neighbors will be happy," she said.

Notes from Nov. 18 Village Board meeting:

• For the second year in a row, Public Safety reported zero incidents of vandalism on Halloween.
• Village Hall will be closed Thursday and Friday, Nov. 25 and Nov. 26, for Thanksgiving.
• There will be garbage pickup on Friday, Nov. 26, instead of Thursday.