Home Sale Could Solve North Babylon Library's Parking Problems

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island library's popularity is so hot right now that it's actually run out of parking space for patrons.

As CBS2's Ali Bauman reported, book lovers have even been parking on neighbor's property -- which has left them absolutely fuming.

The library director has a plan that may please everyone involved.

Family time at the North Babylon Library in Suffolk County is a great time to read to the kids, but it's a bad time to find a place to park. The small lot only has 42 spaces, and in the summertime parents use any means possible to create a space.

"I've actually seen people parking in the entranceway because there is absolutely no place to park, you have to double park," Jennifer O'Leary said.

Mary Vargis said she is often forced to park across the street from the library on the other side of Deer Park Avenue, an extremely busy road.

"When my son is with me I have to cross the road with him, without the car. It's terrible, sometimes very terrible," Vargis said.

Library Director Marc Horowitz said every day he's forced to play traffic cop.

"We had somebody pull up on the grass here," he said.

Horowitz said he has the answer. Now that the owners of a neighboring home are willing to sell their property -- with money from its reserve fund -- the library would be able to more than double its parking.

"We have the cash, we can do this. We're not asking for a bond issue, we're not asking for financial assistance," Horowitz said.

Many neighbors applaud the library proposal. They're sick and tired of people parking in front of their homes, sometimes blocking their driveways.

Neighbor Kate Solliday often points drivers to signs that prohibit anyone from parking in front of her home on school days, but during the summer she gets a lot of push back.

"Absolutely, like - it's not your business, the street is not your property," she said.

Residents will have a chance to vote on the proposal on Tuesday, August 30.

If approved, the library said it will ask a non-profit group to move the home off the property to be used as affordable housing for needy families or veterans.