Parking Regs Target Parties
(07/30/2009) For the past few years, residents of Jordan Drive in Water Mill have been subjected to the noise and clutter of two large houses
 Jennifer Landes
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next to each other operating primarily as commercial ventures to promote products and businesses that have been involved in their leasing.
During this time, the houses have been cited for various violations. One does not have a certificate of occupancy, let alone a rental permit.
Alleged violators go to court with a lawyer and ask for adjournments, and “that’s how it goes; it’s the end of the summer by the time it’s done,” Southampton Town Councilwoman Anna Throne-Holst said Tuesday. “They move out and there’s nothing more we can do.”
Neighbors such as Reynolds Dodson and Brad Reiger have been complaining for years. Mr. Dodson told the town board on Tuesday that he had told Prudential Douglas Elliman, which has rental signs posted outside, that one of the houses did not have a certificate of occupancy and couldn’t be rented, “and their lawyer threatened me,” he said.
Mr. Dodson said a total of 12 surrounding properties were affected by the two houses at Jordan Drive. During the Fourth of July weekend, he said, the parties lasted until “4 and 5 in the morning.”
Another neighbor said her 11-month-old daughter couldn’t sleep because music blasted all day and all night.
Mr. Reiger said that “for years now, one is the official Bacardi Rum house of the Hamptons.” Another is run by a magazine, according to Ms. Throne-Holst.
Last year, one of the houses voluntarily shut down. This year’s occupants have been more resistant. The new groups this year are “wretched for the people around there,” Ms. Throne-Holst said.
Now, the councilwoman and the town are trying something new: restricting parking on those roads so that partygoers cannot park near the house without facing a steep fine.
The laws, which were adopted after a hearing on Tuesday, will restrict parking from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on Tanager Lane from Wood Thrush Lane to its end and around the intersection of Jordan Road and Water Mill Towd Road from May 15 to Sept. 15.
Ms. Throne-Holst said the town decided to vote on the resolution on the same night as the hearing so it could put the new no-parking signs in by this weekend. “I’ve alerted the Highway Department that we want to fast-track this,” she said.
“We’re trying to be as responsive and reactive as we can to an ongoing issue in town during this time of year,” the councilwoman said. “These are commercial ventures with hundreds of cars, noise, and litter.” The new tactic will give the Police Department “the ability to ticket and to ticket a lot,” both discouraging parking as well as bringing much-needed revenue to the town’s coffers.
Mr. Reiger called it a good start, but said he wanted to see more of an effort to enforce the town’s laws on those properties. “I know we have a strong rental code, now the town enforcement bureau should start addressing these issues,” he said. “It’s eroding the quality of lives and property values” on the street.
One neighbor said she had her house on the market but had deals fall through because word of the parties had spread.