As you may know, some of our members were recently ticketed, either for parking on the grass or for being in the park after sunset.  We contacted the police department to better understand their concerns and enforcement guidelines.  We had a very pleasant and productive discussion.  Basically, the bottom line is:

Under existing township ordinances, for public safety reasons, the park is open from sunrise to sunset only, so as soon as it begins to get dark you should finish up your conversations and leave the park.  However, the police will use discretion, and give us a little leeway on getting out of the park.  They agreed to void the parking tickets issued between 5 and 5:15 pm for being in the park after sunset (even though technically they were proper under the applicable ordinance) for this reason.

Also, it is illegal to park on the grass and at the side of Mill Creek Road.

• Parking on the grass will eventually degrade and ruin the attractive green space which the park provides. In addition, there are environmental issues relating to toxic fluids that drip out of cars while parked, especially because of our location next to Mill Creek.
• Parking on Mill Creek Road is dangerous, both to the cars and drivers parked there and to people leaving the parking lot. Cars parked there block the view of oncoming traffic.

We fully understand that people are only parking on the grass and Mill Creek Road because the parking lot is full.  We will work on scheduling meetings with the Parks Department to see if there is any way to relieve the parking congestion.  Meanwhile, please park only in the actual parking lot—and always park reasonably close to cars that are already parked so as to save space for others.