The availability of parking in and around the downtown square is always a hot topic with residents, business owners, and visitors alike.  The City often fields requests for more parking, increased enforcement, or both.  When it comes to downtown parking, we seem to suffer from a lack of adequate parking and a perceived lack of parking due to spaces in use.

Historically, the City has taken some steps to help regulate parking and increase its availability.  One step began with an intergovernmental agreement between the City and the County regulating who may park on the interior of the downtown square.  Outside of a few reserved spaces for certain county officials and police parking for court purposes, other county employees are encouraged to park off the square.  This agreement gave the City jurisdiction to regulate parking in that area.  Additionally, the City has utilized a “two-hour” parking limit on spaces in the downtown area to give patrons enough time to enjoy shopping our downtown, but also to prevent individuals from parking in a space all day.   Some customers have in the past received citations due to the two-hour limit. 

As time progressed, the two-hour parking became less and less effective at regulating parking.  Without a dedicated individual monitoring parking, it became inefficient for police officers to monitor vehicles and return two hours later to check if the vehicles had moved.  We have also learned ways some have circumvented the parking enforcement which has exacerbated the parking problems downtown.  It also has grown apparent that a large percentage of parking spaces are being occupied by vehicles which rarely leave over the course of a workday – the cars belonging to employees of various organizations downtown.

Our staff met on various occasions along with speaking with businesses and government bodies in the downtown area to come up with possible solutions.  In those discussions, numerous ideas were considered including reducing/raising the hourly limit on parking, metering, eliminating restrictions, stickers/tags, hiring employees, etc.   The cost effective and efficient way to police the downtown area would be designating the problem areas as “customer parking” only.

Below is an ordinance which revises the current standards adding the concept of customer parking in a downtown parking district.  The district is defined as Broadway Street from Chicago Street to the alley east of McLean Street (next to City Hall), Pulaski Street from Chicago Street to McLean Street, Kickapoo Street from Pekin Street to Clinton Street, and McLean Street from Pekin Street to Pulaski Street.  From 9AM-5PM during the weekdays, only persons conducting business at any of the businesses or government entities are able to parking for over 30 minutes within the downtown parking district.  Employees of any of those organizations would be required to find parking elsewhere, which there are city lots just off the square along with on street parking around the parks.  Anyone would be allowed to park downtown for the purposes of loading or unloading for a period of no more than 30 minutes.

Signage would also need to be replaced to represent the changed policy, should the council approve the new ordinance.  Enforcement does require some use of the honor system.  The police department would be able to determine if a parked car belongs to an employee downtown by abuse of the system.  Citizens who report violations are also required according to the new ordinance to appear as a witness in court if necessary.

The new ordinance also revises the parking violation fee structure.  For decades, the parking fine was $10.  There are no increased fees for multiple violations.  Under the draft ordinance, the first parking violation constitutes a fine of $25.  The second offense in the course of a year is $50, third offense is $100, and a fourth offense is $200.  As it stands now, a $10 fine is not discouraging anyone for taking up a parking space for an extended period of time.  However, the current fine does increase if not paid within 48 hours.

The ordinance does eliminate the two hour parking zones on the other streets such as Sangamon, Chicago, and Clinton.  Further areas of coverage can be considered by the Council if necessary.

A “customer parking” only approach is not unlike that of larger metropolitan or other like sized cities.  Anyone with comments or suggestions is encouraged to contact their aldermen, the City Administrator or the Chief of Police.

Downtown Parking Ordinance (PDF)