Students Vie For Limited La Grange Parking

LA GRANGE, IL – La Grange's West End struggles with parking more than any other local neighborhood, officials said this week.

A major factor, they said, is Lyons Township High School students hunting for spaces.

They are filling up commuter parking lots near the railroad, using spaces freed up by remote workers.

Parking is limited at the high school. Every year, the school holds a lottery for seniors for the right to park in the student lot on Cossitt Avenue. (This year, 349 applied, with 30, or less than 10 percent, receiving spots, according to the school.)

During a Village Board meeting, Trustee Beth Augustine said she has heard that the school says parking is the village's problem and the village says it's the school's.

She said the school and village should work together for a long-term solution. Possibly a two-story parking deck could be built at the student lot, with an underground stormwater vault, helping solve the neighborhood's flooding problem, she said.

Making her case, Augustine pointed to the parking garage next to Village Hall.

"There was a time when nobody wanted this parking garage, and we built it," she said. "Thank goodness. It helped this part of town grow. If we don't do something on the West End, we can't grow."

Village President Mark Kuchler said a consultant's 2-year-old study showed the village's parking issues were worst on the West End.

He also said the gyms in the area were a factor.

"I'll pick on the fitness clubs," Kuchler said. "They all say, 'My people are so healthy they're going to bike or walk.' And I can tell you they don't. I don't, nobody does."

During the discussion, Augustine said parking was still a problem downtown. She disagreed with the study, which indicated plenty of parking was available there. She said the consultant did the counts at the wrong times.

She also said a soon-to-open restaurant on Calendar Avenue would worsen the parking situation.

Augustine and Kuchler were speaking during a review of the village's proposed long-term plan for growth, often referred to as a "comprehensive plan."