Croton village residents should expect to get used to moving their cars as the village board moves forward with an alternate side of the street parking plan.
The village board tweaked the schedule proposed in March to clean the business district streets from 4-6 a.m. weekly, but to only clean certain residential streets from 9-11 a.m. on a monthly basis.

At the request of a resident, the board also agreed to sweep Old Post Road South between Maple Street and Cleveland Street monthly from 7-7:30 a.m.
Resident Pete Sedlmair and his neighbors contended that the original proposal to sweep the street weekly from 4-6 a.m. was excessive and too early. Sedlmair said he doesn’t believe the streets need sweeping in his neighborhood.

The trustees agreed on the new schedule at the Monday work session, but will revisit the topic again before it officially votes on the schedule.

Currently, the village only sweeps the streets once every couple of months, but Marco Gennarelli, superintendent of the Department of Public Works, said the village must sweep its streets more often to comply with a state mandated storm water management plan, and so not to violate its SPEDES permit (State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) issued by the state’s Department of Conservation in 2003.

Gennarelli said the number of people entering and leaving the business district leaves a mess and that the DPW can’t efficiently sweep the streets with the number of cars parked there. He said other villages in the county similar in size to Croton sweeps their streets weekly, including Bronxville, Hastings-on-Hudson, Scarsdale and Dobbs Ferry.

The village plans to post signs about the new parking rules, and will leave warning notes for offenders initially to allow residents to get accustomed to the new schedule. The village will use its new communication service, Connect CTY, to remind residents about alternate side parking rules.

Connect CTY allows the village to call hundreds of residents at once. The village plans to use the system in the case of emergencies, such as informing residents about flooding at the Croton-Harmon train station.

In other news:
The interim village manager and village clerk requested the board tighten-up the process for groups to use space in the municipal building.

Community groups like the Little League and Book Discussion Club are now required to fill out a form at the recreation department in order to use the community rooms. Village-sanctioned groups, like the planning board, must call the recreation department for verbal permission.
Interim Village Manager Abraham Zambrano and DiSanto also requested the village lock the main meeting room and only allow official village groups to use it, like the town board or zoning board of appeals.

“We’ve just redone it and it looks nice and we don’t want it to get ruined,” DiSanto said.
DiSanto said the point is not to restrict access, but for the village to regulate who is using the building.

The village manager and village clerk also suggested the village require a certificate of insurance from all the community groups using the building to protect the village against potential lawsuits.

The mayor agreed but the issue was not discussed further.