The Village of Mineola recently opened a new parking lot at the corner of 2nd Street and Roslyn Road. The parking field is the first new municipal parking Mineola has added in almost 10 years.
The lot was built on property that was deeded at no cost to the Village of Mineola by New York state as part of the Department of Transportation’s Roslyn Road Long Island Rail Road Grade Crossing Elimination Project. The village successfully negotiated the land transfer as part of the project in order to provide additional parking for area residents and business customers.While there is still ongoing work yet to be completed, such as the installation of additional lighting, the basic work needed to convert the lot from a vacant parcel including drainage, paving and curbing was completed ahead of schedule making the lot usable to motorists.
“The trustees and I felt that if the lot is usable, it was more important to open the lot to use than to wait for it to be 100 percent complete,” said Mayor Scott Strauss. “Any additional work can be completed while the lot is being used.”
Strauss added that this lot offers much needed parking relief in that area of the village. Currently there are no restrictions on non-commercial parking in the new lot, pending the completion of a first-ever village-wide parking study, which will be concluded by late spring. Depending on the outcome of the parking study, options on restrictions such the installation of parking meter kiosks may be implemented.
“Mineola has never conducted a comprehensive parking study before, so it doesn’t make sense to put arbitrary restrictions on this lot until we hear back from our parking consultants. Depending on the experts recommendations, the board might have to change the restrictions in just a few months,” said Strauss. “At least this way residents can get use out of the lot now.”
—Submitted by the Village of Mineola
