College Point DMV Parking Fees Illegal?

Visitors to the busy Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices in College Point are illegally being charged parking fees to store their cars, according to local elected officials.
Staff members from the offices of Queens BP Helen marshall, State Senator Toby Stavisky, Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn, the citys Economic Development Corporation (EDC), and Community Board 7 have been scurrying to the rule books to determine the legality of the new parking fees.
Parking had been free until last month, when a $3 charge for three hours was introduced by Triangle Equities, the buildings manager. Well over 1,000 persons per day visit the offices on the southbound Whitestone Expressway service road, off Ulmer Avenue in the crowded College Point Corporate Park.
The DMVs space-starved parking field also serves six other building tenants. It is so crowded that waiting DMV-bound cars are often backed up into the crowded Whitestone Expressway service road by parking attendants.
Denying responsibility for the parking charges, DMV spokesman Matt Byrnes said that his agency merely rented space in this office complex. "We are tenants in this building," Byrnes said, "and its up to the landlord to provides parking." The landlord, he said, provided free parking for DMV employees.
The College Point facility serves an estimated 400,000 customers annually in northern Queens.
Lester Petracca, president of Triangle Equities, the firm that manages the DMVs building, said that the DMVs heavy volume of clients, the resulting traffic jams and huge parking demand necessitated the establishment of the paid parking facility.
"In the past," said Mr. Petracca, "parking congestion turned away many motorists because individuals used the lot for other local business and long term parking needs." He said that the managed lots new toll system has also succeeded in increasing space availability as well as easing traffic conditions in and around the building.
Promoted by inquiries from local elected officials, the EDC, a city agency which developed and now operates the corporate park, has launched an inquiry into the legality of the parking fees. "We believe that these parking fees are not in the spirit of the citys urban renewal plan," said EDC spokeswoman Jonelle Patterson.
"Its not fair that motorists have to pay to use the College Point office of the DMV," said Senator Stavisky. "There is very limited public transit access, so charging people to park there effectively adds to the costs of the licenses and registrations. In addition to not being fair, it may also not be legal," she concluded.
An "outraged" Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn said that with the limited number of parking spaces on the street available in the corporate park, "We should be looking for ways to increase the number of free on-site parking spaces, not limit them by charging fees. The legality of charging for parking is something my office is now looking into."
Dan Andrews, spokesman for Queens BP Helen Marshall, said that her staff was examining the parameters of the citys Urban Renewal Plan to determine the legality of these charges.
The public outcry began last month, when CB 7 contacted the EDC to complain about the parking charges. In the letter to the EDC and the elected officials, Chairperson Eugene Kelty said that under the citys Urban Renewal Plan, the property owner must provide adequate parking on the site to discourage drivers from utilizing parking meant for the residential community.
Mr. Kelty has already offered a solution for the areas illegal long-term parkers. He suggested that parking charges could remain if DMV patrons had their parking stubs validated in order to be exempted from all parking charges when they exit the lot.
Adjacent office complexes along the expressway aware of the crush for space, have already posted signs warning that illegally parked vehicles will be towed from their parking lots. Experienced DMV-bound motorists, aware of the offices glaring space shortage, avoid the parking fees by parking in the free spaces at the Whitestone Theatre and Toys R Us parking lots, just a half-block away.
"Next thing, Gov. Pataki will be putting pay toilets in the ladies room," said an angry Adela Gomez of Jackson Heights, who had accompanied her sister for new plates.