Southold Town Supervisor Proposes Ban on Bike/Race Events During 'Off-Season'

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell proposed a ban on a bicycle and race events during certain months of the year within the Town at Tuesday’s work session meeting.

The proposed ban would prevent races from taking place between May 1 and October 1.

“This isn’t a total ban but, rather, a measure to have event organizers reschedule events to our off season,” Russell said.

Currently, the ban would affect three runs/triathlons and four bike events that have applied to take place in Southold, according to Russell.

There are also three pending 5K’s that have not yet been approved in anticipation of having the new policy in place shortly, he said.

In addition, popular events such as the Bike, Boat, Bike event, which usually takes place in June and the Mighty North Fork Triathlon, which usually takes place in July, would no longer be permitted during the ”black out dates”.

“[The Mighty North Fork Triathlon] is a popular well-run event but we can’t develop new policy that carves out exceptions for events we traditionally have had few issues with,” Russell said. “It needs to be across the board and fairly applied.”

According to Russell, these events have create many complaints over the years, mostly about quality of life issues and inconveniences such as closing roads.

“The bike events in particular result in complaints such as stopping vehicles to cross roads, riding 3 or 4 wide along the shoulder which disrupts traffic,” he said. “We also get complaints about rude behavior, litter and painted road markings as well. The police chief is having a difficult time managing these events with the limited staffing he has. Several bicyclists spread out over several miles can be a logistical nightmare and it’s doubtful we can properly ensure everyone’s safety in that scenario.”

Officials have tried to managed events by ”developing policies and guidelines as well as clean up deposits, etc,” but the policies “do not address all of the challenges at this point and something had to be done,” according to Russell.

“People need to remember that these are private events being held on public property. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the town to say ’not now, come back another time,’” he said.

Russell said that he would support new policy that would be effective immediately, but will defer to the town attorney whether or not that’s possible.