Eastchester, Bronxville, County Settle on Maintenance of Scout Field

Scout Field, the 23-acre park where sports teams play and people walk their dogs, will receive an $850,000 renovation in the coming months and will be maintained by Eastchester and Bronxville going forward under a new agreement.

Officials from Bronxville, Eastchester and Westchester County recently ended the wrangling over which jurisdiction would manage the county-owned park and agreed on a renovation plan that will include new sod, fencing and irrigation system among other improvements. Work on the park is expected to begin in the spring.

“Annually, it will be a part of our maintenance budget,” said Eastchester Town Supervisor Anthony Colavita at a press conference announcing the plan Thursday. “And Bronxville will assist us, for which we are very grateful.”  

Located off Midland Avenue in the southern portion of the Bronx River Parkway Reservation, the park is regularly used by more than 2,000 area children for soccer, baseball and lacrosse on the two fields. Bronxville, Eastchester, Yonkers, Mount Vernon all laid some claim to the park over the years, officials said.

“This agreement and renovation will not only benefit the people of Eastchester but all of the residents of Westchester County,” said County Executive Robert Astorino. Thursday morning’s press conference was attended by a large contingent of Bronxville, Eastchester and county officials, in addition to representatives from some of the area’s youth sports leagues.

Eastchester will handle the day-to-day maintenance of the park, and Bronxville will continue to handle sports programming on its fields through its schools and sports leagues. All county residents will continue to have access to the park.

The county is spending $600,000 on the renovation and Eastchester is spending $250,000. The exact annual cost of maintaining the park was not disclosed.

“We became a real team on this project,” said Bronxville Mayor Mary Marvin, adding that while Bronxville residents use the park a great deal, the village could not afford its day-to-day maintenance. “There was real cooperation.”