3 min read
The boat goes in the water in May. The empty rig goes in the driveway. That is the plan almost everyone makes, and most people never check whether it is allowed.
In Southampton Town, the driveway answer is often no.
What the town code says
The Town of Southampton's zoning rules address this directly. Under the supplemental use and dimensional regulations, no boat or boat trailer may be parked in any front yard. The same rule covers any required side yard. In a required rear yard, nothing may sit within 10 feet of a property line.
The Village of Southampton carries the same prohibition in its own code.
In plain terms, three things follow.
The front yard is out. That includes the part of the driveway in front of your house, which is exactly where most boat trailers live.
The required side yard is out.
The rear yard works, if you can keep 10 feet clear of every property line.
The phrase that trips people up
"Required yard" is a zoning term, not a plain English one. What counts as a required side or rear yard depends on your zoning district and your lot.
Two neighbors on the same street can get different answers. A survey settles it. So does a call to the Southampton Town Building Department, which will tell you your zoning and your setbacks over the phone.
Check before you assume, not after a neighbor complains.
The rule on our own road
There is a second rule that catches people within sight of the water.
Dock Road and Pine Neck Avenue in Noyac are listed in the town's parking by permit rules. Within 500 feet of a town boat ramp, a ramp sticker is required. That covers the public right of way and the parking area. It applies to a towing vehicle and to an unhitched rig alike.
Both sides of Pine Neck Avenue within 500 feet of Dock Road are named specifically.
So the roadside near the ramp is not the overflow parking it looks like. That applies to a launch day trip, not just to storage.
Rentals and associations add a third layer
If your East End house is a rental, or sits under a homeowners association, the town code is only the first filter. Rental agreements and association covenants often restrict what can be stored in view of the street.
We cannot tell you what your specific agreement says. We can tell you how often this is the detail that goes unread until October.
What five months of sitting does to a boat trailer
Even where parking is allowed, the rig pays for the season.
Tires flat spot and lose pressure. Bearings sit unturned for months. Wiring corrodes. Surface rust starts wherever the galvanising got chipped during a season of launching.
None of that is dramatic by itself. It becomes a problem on the October morning you need it to work and find a tire down and a light out.
Towing it twice is the other option
Some owners tow it home in May and bring it back in October. That is two round trips on Noyac Road in high season, hitched up both ways.
Plenty of people genuinely prefer that. Plenty of others think they prefer it until they have done it twice.
What we charge
Summer trailer storage here is a flat $1,800 per trailer for the season. It is flat rather than per foot, because an empty rig takes a fixed footprint in the yard. Details are on our winter trailer storage page.
Winter is priced differently, at $75 per measured linear foot, because by then there is usually a boat sitting on it. That is covered on our winter trailer storage page.
If you keep a slip with us, the rig and the boat end up at the same address. In October that is worth more than it sounds.
We are a staffed marina with 26 slips on Mill Creek, not a self storage lot with a gate code. Someone here knows which boat trailer is yours.
One caveat
This covers the Town and Village of Southampton only. East Hampton Town has its own code and different language. None of this is legal advice, and code gets amended. Confirm your own situation with the town before you rely on it.
Book the season
Call or text 631-500-7777, or email captain@yachthampton.com. Bring us the length and axle setup. Tell us whether you expect to need it during the season, because that changes where we park it.
Yacht Hampton Boating Club and Marina, 51 Pine Neck Ave, Sag Harbor, NY 11963.