Town of Rye Trying to Resolve Parking Issues at Crawford Park

As spring and summer fast approaches, the Town of Rye is trying to address pedestrian safety and parking issues at Crawford Park before a flock of residents begin using the park again for outdoor activities.

At the council's Tuesday night meeting, Bishop Nowotnik, the town's director of purchasing and secretary to the supervisor, said that parking issues are becoming more severe.

Nowotnik said Crawford Park has limited parking, incidents involving pedestrians and moving vehicles, parking overflow and limited access for emergency access vehicles during the park's busiest days.

The town is planning to hire Phil Cimino, president of the consulting firm PSC Engineering, to look into the issue. 

Supervisor Carvin asked Cimino to make a few recommendations for how the town should address parking issues at Crawford. Cimino will present his updated proposal at the town's February 9 meeting. 

Cimino said his firm would need to evaluate the park on its busiest days, so it could make better recommendations.

"I feel confident that within a month we could probably have some ideas for you to look at and within a month after that, have some recommendations," Cimino told the town council.

Town Council members said parking issues have to be addressed quickly, especially before residents start to populate the park as the weather improves.

"I would already like to see this in motion and not wait until the people start coming back to the park," said council member Michele Mendicino.

"We really need to move to address this issue," Carvin said.