Task Force Recommends Significant Increase in Parking Fees at Rye Town Park

The best way to resolve parking issues at Rye Town Park would be to decrease the number of parking spaces by about 50 percent and more than double non-resident weekend and holiday parking fees, according to recommendations presented by a task force at Monday's Rye Town Park Commission meeting.

The Rye Town Park Task Force—comprised of Rye residents—presented a list of four key recommendations to the Commission's members, which include City of Rye Mayor Doug French, Rye Brook Mayor Joan Feinstein, Rye Town Supervisor Joseph Carvin, Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla and two commissioners from the city and town of Rye.

Residents have complained that Rye Town Park has essentially turned into a parking lot that has become unsafe for pedestrians and cluttered with cars that are consuming the park's green, open space.

The park currently has 202 paved and 113 unpaved parking spots, but up to 1,000 people visit the park on a summer day, according to park officials. A survey conducted last summer showed that at least 70 percent of the park's visitors are non-residents.

During Monday's meeting, task force member Kristina Bicher gave the Commission an overview of the group's main recommendations.

The task force recommended erecting parking barriers that would extend from the northwestern end of the duck pond to the stone wall of the park. The barrier would still allow for a third of the park to be used for parking and a maximum of 500 –600 cars, a decrease from the current parking availability of 916 cars.

The task force suggested increasing parking fees and creating differentiated pricing for resident and non-resident parking. The recommendations call for an increase from $7 to $8 for weekday parking for residents without a permit. Weekend parking fees would also increase to $12 for these residents.

Non-residents would experience the highest increase in parking fees under the task force's recommendations.  Weekday parking would increase from $7 to $14, from $8 to $20 for weekend parking and from about $8 to $25 for holiday parking. The task force also recommended the elimination of free evening parking and charging seniors $2 to park, a privilege that is currently free for people 62 and older. Bicher said the suggested prices were in line with fees charged at 21 other beaches in surrounding Fairfield County and Long Island County, and that the park likely would not lose revenue because increased parking fees would make up for the loss of parking availability.

The final two recommendations called for the park to collect parking fees in a more automated fashion that minimizes cash, using parking machines that accept debit or credit cards. The task force also suggested discontinuing the practice of allowing people to exit the park by going around the duck pond, which Bicher said was an environmentally sensitive area.

"We think the current situation is dangerous and untenable for pedestrians, especially children," Bicher said. "We think there's environmental degradation that's happening at the park. The sheer number of cars driving and idling, as well as the trash created, is detrimental to the water quality, air quality and health of the planting [plants at the park]."

Commission members had different reactions to the task force's recommendations.

Carvin said the Commission had a difficult balancing act of trying to ensure safety without comprising revenue at the park, which has run a deficit in recent years and will likely lose $80,000 in 2010.

"For me the paramount issue—whether it's 300 cars, 400 cars or 1,000 cars—is safety," Carvin said. "The balance here is going to be what income we sacrifice in order to achieve some of the goals."

However, Carvin said he would like all of the park's 916 spaces to be available on the July 4 and Labor Day weekends to maximize revenue, a suggestion that elicited vocal disapproval from several people in the audience, many of whom live near the park and have difficulty getting in and out of their driveways because of traffic congestion during the summer.

Rye Brook Mayor Joan Feinstein said she supported the differentiated pricing for residents and non-residents, saying that City and Town of Rye residents have to pay taxes to use the park and have had to absorb the revenue losses every year.

"I know what will happen is that we will lose non-residents, potentially, and I'm okay with that," Feinstein said. "There has to be a difference between residents and non-residents."

But Jonathan Kraut, a lawyer representing Starfish Grill, Inc., the owner of Seaside Johnnies, said his client had concerns about the task force's recommendations.

Kraut said ensuring safety at the park is vital, but decreasing parking availability would also decrease the number of patrons visiting Seaside Johnnies, which currently has a 10-year lease to operate at the park that expires in 2012.

The Rye Town Park staff also issued recommendations at the meeting that differed noticeably from those of the task force.

Bill Lawyer, Assistant Director of Park Development, said the staff supports differentiated pricing, but is recommending an increase in parking fees for non-permit holders that would raise weekday rates from $7 to $8, weekend rates from $8 to $10 and holiday rates from $8 to $12.

Other recommendations include eliminating annual permits, introducing a new car counter system to get accurate data for park attendance, installing a second cashier station at the main parking booth and hiring and training more parking staff.

The Commission will likely do a formal traffic study before deciding what changes to implement in advance of pre-season parking at Rye Town Park, which begins on April 26.