Westhampton Beach Solved Its Sewer Problem. Now Parking Decides What Main Street Can Become.

The owner of 104 Main Street had gotten about as close to approval as an applicant can. The request was modest: a one-story retail addition next to the existing building, needing three more parking stalls than the lot provides. According to 27east, the Zoning Board of Appeals had closed its hearing and was preparing a decision when the Village Board adopted a moratorium on parking variances.

By May, the ZBA agenda listed that application, along with a much larger one at 149 Main Street, under a single heading: "held over in abeyance of the moratorium."

For anyone looking at a commercial building in the village's B-1 business district, this is the story that matters. The downtown sewer district removed one old limit on what Main Street properties could become. Parking took its place. The code the Village Board is now weighing would put a building's parking position directly into its value.

The $6,500 Space That Was Meant to Buy a Parking Lot

The current fee in lieu of required off-street parking is about $6,500 per space. Mayor Ralph Urban told 27east that the money goes into a village parking fund. The original idea was to save enough to buy property for more public parking. "That just is inadequate right now," he said.

That is the core of the problem. Urban conceded that even a higher fee may not cover a parking property outright and that the village might need to bond part of a purchase. He also said no suitable property is currently available.

On February 5, 2026, the Village Board unanimously approved a moratorium on off-street parking variances. Nobody spoke at the public hearing. "Our existing code has been found to be outdated and ineffective," Urban said, as 27east reported. That same night the board formed a Parking Committee, chaired by Trustee Chris Rizzo, with Trustee Chris Mensch, then-Village Attorney Anthony Pasca, Chief Building Inspector Brad Hammond and Police Chief Steven McManus.

Why the Sewer Pushed Parking to the Front

27east has drawn a direct line between the new infrastructure and the parking squeeze. Parking became a particular concern for businesses seeking to expand or change use "following the Main Street redevelopment and the creation of the sewer district." Phase I of the district runs mostly along Main Street, Mitchell Road and Library Avenue. Once the wastewater question was settled for those blocks, the next limit a project ran into was the number of cars it would bring downtown.

Flora at 149 Main Street shows how much that can be. The Planning Board minutes from October 23, 2025 describe the project as an "expansion of existing 16-seat restaurant and the addition of 2 second floor apartments with associated site improvements." At the ZBA, the project needed 19 additional parking stalls and relief for 63 percent building coverage where 50 percent is allowed. As of the Planning Board's October 22, 2026 agenda, both 149 Main and 104 Main were still listed as holdovers.

The Proposed Parking Framework

On August 19, Hammond presented the Parking Committee's preliminary framework, and the Village Board opened a public hearing on October 7 on amendments to Chapters 197 and 178 and a Downtown Parking Overlay District.

The committee counted more than 500 public parking spaces downtown. The overlay generally follows a 300-foot radius from available public parking, which Hammond described as a reasonable walking distance. The preliminary framework included a credit of roughly one parking space for every 2,000 square feet of lot area inside the district and use reductions of about 33 percent, rising to as much as 50 percent for uses considered especially "synergistic," meaning customers are likely to visit several businesses in one trip. Urban gave a clothing store, jewelry store or restaurant as examples that could be treated differently from single-errand businesses. The list of qualifying uses is still "subject to tweaking and changing." In the October draft these are labeled "basic" and "cooperative" uses.

The preliminary tiers presented in August:

"If you need one extra space, then the cost will be nominal," Urban said. The tiers rise so that larger projects contribute more toward buying parking. The draft code itself does not set the fees. Those would come later by board resolution. Relief in the B-1 district would also move from the Zoning Board of Appeals to a special permit from the Village Board. Village Attorney Stephen Angel stressed that paying a fee would not guarantee approval.

Grandfathering at the Hearing

At the October 7 hearing, Westhampton Beach attorney Jim Hulme asked whether existing grandfathered parking allowances would survive, according to 27east's account of the hearing.

Building and Zoning Administrator Brad Hammond said the overall approach would be less restrictive because of the lot-size credits and use reductions. He added that properties with a lot of development and little or no parking could face more scrutiny and higher fees.

The Part Main Street Shoppers Will Notice

The same package changes the village's vehicle and traffic code. As proposed, the Main Street parking limit would go from two hours to three. The south Parlato lot near the canal, which currently has no time limit, would get a three-hour limit. The code would also be corrected to exclude Sundays from the time restrictions in front of the post office, so the law matches the signs installed after the Main Street redevelopment. Urban said the changes are meant to make downtown parking easier to use for customers and to support local businesses.

A longer stay on Main Street helps the "synergy" argument behind the new formula. A shopper with three hours can fit in lunch and a second stop on the same trip.

Where It Stands

The draft resolution on the November 4 agenda proposes extending the moratorium from November 5, 2026, through February 3, 2027.

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