The intersection of James Lane and Mill Road, where there have been three accidents since 2016, was the main topic of discussion at last Thursday’s meeting of the East Hampton Village Board.
Mill Road is a short two-way street that cuts through the village green across from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church; it connects Main Street to James Lane. According to a report prepared by Drew Bennett, the village engineer, its width ranges from 32 feet at the intersections to 15 feet at the point where it crosses a culvert, serving as a bridge.
A driver’s sight line to the south is severely constrained by the adjacent South End Cemetery, Mr. Bennett told the board. The sight line is approximately 45 to 50 feet. For safety reasons, he said, it should be 200 feet, based on the speed of traffic on James Lane.
The speed limit there is 25 miles per hour, but, said the Very Rev. Denis Brunelle of St. Luke’s, most drivers greatly exceed it. “I live there,” said Mr. Brunelle. “No one adheres to 25 miles per hour either way on James Lane. I have seen traffic at 50 and 60 miles an hour . . . coming out of the driveway of St. Luke’s is dangerous.”
The most recent accident at the intersection, which occurred on Oct. 13, a Sunday morning, was very bad, he said. “Two cars were demolished and one of my parishioners had to go to the hospital.” A car heading from Mill Road to St. Luke’s driveway collided with a vehicle heading northbound on James Lane, according to the police report.
Mr. Bennett proposed two possible solutions to improve safety. Adding a stop sign to northbound James Lane, he said, would make it safer for cars to make a left turn from Mill Road and go straight across to St. Luke’s.
Another viable option, he said, would be to make Mill Road a one-way street heading west, away from James Lane. That approach would make the sight line issue moot, he said, but there would be negative ramifications. “Once you eliminate a traffic lane, you just divert traffic to other arteries . . . Mill Road is a low-traveled road, so we’re not talking about a great deal of traffic, but it is a congested area during church services or events at Home, Sweet Home or Shopkeeper v. ‘Taste Police’
Also, the one-way option would require the village to install a number of traffic signs on the green. “I know the board has been sensitive to sign pollution in the village green area,” Mr. Bennett said.
Arthur Graham, a trustee, said he was initially inclined to favor the one-way solution, but has now decided that a stop sign on northbound James Lane would be better.
Rose Brown, his colleague, said she has seen a number of accidents at the intersection of Main Street and Mill Road, and prefers the one-way option. “I do understand it might be inconvenient for those attending Mass at St. Luke’s on Sundays, but over all I think it would be safer,” she said. “Mill Road is very narrow. I don’t think it was intended for the volume of traffic that it’s experiencing now.”
Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. and Barbara Borsack wanted to take an incremental approach. “One stop sign northbound would be the simplest thing to do, and then if we find that we’re still having a problem we can look at one-way,” said Ms. Borsack.
The trustees, except for Ms. Brown, had agreed on that solution, and Mr. Rickenbach had asked Beth Baldwin, the village attorney, to prepare a resolution for a public hearing, but then Mr. Brunelle convinced them to change their minds.
“With all due respect, Madam Trustee Borsack, I think two stop signs are necessary,” he said. “Even if you’re coming across Mill Road to go into the [church] driveway, there’s still traffic coming southbound on James Lane at 50 miles an hour. I hear the screeching of the tires . . . I get woken up at all hours of the night because of the sirens. If you want to put a stop sign in my driveway too, fine, I don’t mind, but you need two, both north and south.”
“I always think we should listen to people who live right there, so I’m willing to go with two,” replied Ms. Borsack, and a majority of the trustees agreed. To make sure the southbound stop sign is clearly visible, Richard Lawler recommended eliminating an adjacent parking space on the west side of James Lane.
At Ms. Brown’s request, the board will also examine police reports of traffic accidents at Mill Road and Main Street. Capt. Anthony Long of the East Hampton Village Police said officers would be monitoring traffic on James Lane closely, and keeping a log of speeds.
While on the subject of driving in the village, Mayor Rickenbach, who plans to retire at the end of the month, encouraged his colleagues to undertake a wide-ranging traffic analysis. “I don’t mean to be the harbinger of bad things, but the village is going to have to look at the entire Route 27 and the feeder streets,” he said.
Having four lanes of traffic through the commercial core on Main Street, the mayor said, is unsafe. “I’ve been a believer that it should be closed down to one lane east and one lane west, for the benefit of folks in the pedestrian crosswalks.”
Guild Hall and the East Hampton Library, which are on opposite sides of Route 27, a state road, have asked to have a pedestrian crosswalk installed between them, Mr. Rickenbach said, and the village has relayed that request to Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.
The State Department of Transportation is also exploring the option of installing a roundabout at the intersection of Main Street and Buell Lane, he said. “I think it’s imperative that the board look at these issues in a macro fashion, because one impinges on the other.”
The board also discussed the results of an audit of the village’s most recent fiscal year, which ended on July 31. Frank Sluter, a partner in the accounting firm Satty, Levine, and Ciacco, presented the results.
“We looked at the village’s policies, procedures, and internal controls as they pertain to the assets and liabilities of the village,” said Mr. Sluter. “To sum it up, I have to say the village is very fiscally sound.”
Total revenues for the year came to $24 million, which exceeded budget expectations by nearly $1.6 million. The increase in income, he said, came primarily from the issuing of licenses and permits, and from state and county aid.
“On the expenditure side, the village underspent its budget by almost $277,000,” Mr. Sluter said. “All expense categories did better than anticipated.” Also, the village paid off almost $850,000 in loans last year, bringing the remaining loan amount to $4 million — “very low for a village this size.”
The village currently has an unassigned fund balance of almost $7 million, said Mr. Sluter. That means, he said, “Right now, you have a very strong cash position.”
