Hoping to appease local residents and businesses, the Oak Park village board authorized changes to some parking regulations for roadways close to the Madison Street corridor.
In response to several requests of residents, the village board authorized several changes to certain residential blocks at its March 2 meeting.
The 900 and 1000 blocks of Monroe Street will now feature three-hour parking limits, as the two blocks had no time restriction before. Board members also approved removing the three-hour parking limit from the 800 block of South Kenilworth, which will now have no time restraints .
The blocks are located inside the parking pilot program area, which was created in 2019 to test uniform parking regulations that could then be implemented throughout the village. The area is bordered by Harlem Avenue, Oak Park Avenue, South Boulevard and Harrison Street, and was chosen because it contains businesses, employees, customers, single-family residences, multi-family residences and commuters who needed parking.
“I think [the program] was more a direction of a previous village board to simplify parking,” trustee Dan Moroney said. “It was a bit naive to make parking uniform in each block of the village, where each block has different things going on. In this case [of 800 South Kenilworth], we added a restriction where no restriction was needed and made a bunch of residents annoyed. This one’s a no-brainer for me.”
Village staff had recommended adding a one-hour parking limit to the 500 block of South Kenilworth Avenue as a way to encourage customers to use the metered parking spaces on Madison Street.
Resident Clarence Ward, however, asked if the village could extend a restriction to Saturday instead of the traditional Monday through Friday regulation.
“Saturday seems to be the worst day,” Ward said. “The other thing is, we seem to have good enforcement from the parking department from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then it drops off. Nobody seems to come around after 3 p.m. We’ve been told, if we have to call, to call the police non-emergency number. Most residents don’t feel comfortable doing that.”
Currently, the 500 block of South Kenilworth Avenue has no parking restrictions. Staff felt a three-hour limit was too long and proposed the one-hour limit.
Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb, however, said he was sympathetic to local businesses, as well as residents, and suggested a two-hour parking limit Monday through Saturday as a compromise.
“I think it’s important to recognize small businesses have a very difficult time surviving,” Abu-Taleb said. “We have to work together and we need businesses to succeed. There’s trade-offs. It’s important we make a balanced approach to accommodate residents and businesses. Let’s be understanding of economic conditions businesses are going through.”
Trustees unanimously agreed with the mayor’s suggestion, and village staff said an amended parking restriction map will be brought back March 16 for a final approval vote.
sschering@pioneerlocal.com
Twitter: @steveschering
