North Bergen has altered parking regulations in and around James J. Braddock North Hudson County Park.
The township previously adopted an ordinance regulating parking permits and courtesy parking permits. Based on a recommendation from the North Bergen Parking Authority, there is a need to amend the times parking permits are required in Braddock Park, as well as clarify that violations of courtesy parking requirements in the township is prohibited.
As such, Mayor Nicholas Sacco and the Board of Commissioners have adopted an ordinance doing so.
Per the ordinance, all streets in the park will now allow permit parking from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., seven days a week. This applies only to residential permits and includes Boulevard East, Park Drive, Park Drive North, and Park Drive South.
From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., three hour courtesy parking is allowed, now able to be enforced by the township. Parking in excess of the aforementioned provisions is considered a violation.
North Bergen Parking Authority Executive Director Robert Basilice explained the changes at the May 25 meeting.
“We are implementing inside the park, a couple of ordinances,” Basilice said. “One being the Parking Authority being able to enforce the three-hour limit in the park that the county imposes on people that are in the park. Another is residential parking, which the mayor, commissioners, and commissioner [Anthony] Vainieri were able to get the park to be used by residents overnight, as long as they have residential parking permits. So they’re able to park in the park now.“
Sacco added: “We have parking pretty much everywhere in the park.”
Street sweeping schedule altered
The township has also previously adopted and amended ordinances prohibiting parking on portions of specified streets at specified times for street sweeping. This ordinances amends previous ordinances to add the streets in Braddock Park.
Street sweeping will occur on all streets within the park, on the west and south sides of the streets on Mondays from 8 to 10 a.m. by the county. Street sweeping will occur on the same streets but on the east and north sides on Thursdays from 8 to 10 a.m. This will be suspended on state and federal legal holidays.
“From eight to ten is the county sweeping in the park,” Basilice said. “Outside the park is where we are sweeping, and we’re going to be changing the hours along Boulevard East to be later.”
Basilice noted the street sweeping changes on streets outside the park would be made later at another date date, likely changing the time to be 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. or 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the future. He noted coordination was ongoing with the county to ensure that parking for the pre-school in Braddock Park is unaffected on Boulevard East.
“We coordinated with the county, because when we do the sweeper outside, the people that are outside have to find parking somewhere else,” Basilice said. “So we want them to park inside the park. Then on the days that there isn’t parking inside due to street sweeping, they have to be able to park somewhere outside. We’re trying to coordinate it so that whenever there is street sweeping, whether it’s the county or us, our residents have somewhere to park.”
Sacco said the times can change for the sweeping depending on how things go, to which Basilice agreed.
“The two places that may be affected are Riverview North and South,” Basilice said. “If those two areas are affected, we can always adjust enforcement around there.”
For updates on this and other stories, check www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Daniel Israel can be reached at disrael@hudsonreporter.com.
