The view from the 6th Street beach in Greenport is a little less than the usual serene vista residents are accustomed to seeing.
After Greenport Village Trustee Doug Roberts said something needed to be done to prevent motorists from driving their vehicles onto the beach during last week’s village board meeting, village crews erected the posts Friday.
But some are objecting to their sheer, six-foot-high size.
“I understand the need to keep people from driving along the beach but what they have put up looks more like a prison camp. It’s hard to believe that the vista we all enjoy would not have been considered,” resident Eileen Kapell said.
Kapell said she’d prefer some large boulders, much like what exists at the 5th Street Park, would be a preferable and more scenic solution.
Resident Bill Swiskey also demanded answers as to why the posts were so cumbersome and aesthetically out of synch.
At the work session, Roberts said Monday, the board agreed to block cars from driving on the beach to protect children playing on the beach, prevent erosion, and reduce pollution of the waters.
Roberts questioned why Mayor George Hubbard and Village Administrator Paul Pallas “chose to erect such an unnecessary monstrosity.”
He added, “I hope they get down there and get rid of the posts first thing Monday morning and replace them with large rocks from Moore’s Lane woods like they did on 5th Street.”
Hubbard said Roberts wanted something done immediately. “I wanted to be more cautions — but he got what he asked for,” the mayor said.
Village staff, he said, “dropped what they were doing” to address the issue, and now, Hubbard said, “everyone’s complaining.”
Hubbard explained that village staff put the poles up Friday to have a solution in place for the weekend. But, he assured, staff would be back to “shorten the poles, add some chains, and make it look pretty.”
