Congestion Prompts Parking Ban Near Southington's Crescent Lake

SOUTHINGTON, CT — Residents eager to get outside during Sunday's warm weather were apparently too zealous and clogged up one area of Southington, leading to a parking ban, police said.

Police on Monday said an emergency parking ban has been put in effect on Shuttle Meadow Road in the area of Crescent Lake and Hawks Nest Drive. The move was necessary because of a high volume of vehicles that were parking on both sides of the roads, causing "congestion that impeded traffic and would have prevented first-responders from being able to access Crescent Lake," police said.

The parking ban will remain in effect until further notice, police said. Violators will be subject to a $35 fine and vehicles may be towed, police said.

Police issued the following statement:

"As we all work though the COVID-19 pandemic together we understand that people need to get out of their homes and that our parks and open space are seeing a higher volume of visitors than they normally do. We ask that if our citizens go to a park or open space area and there is no safe and legal parking that they look at another one of our open space areas or parks for their recreational enjoyment. Once again, we thank our citizens for their understanding and patience as we all work through this together."

This article originally appeared on the Southington Patch