Motorcycle parking moving in downtown Naperville
Designated motorcycle parking in downtown Naperville is on the move.
Spots now set aside for up to eight motorcycles near Jimmy's Grill at the southwest corner of Washington Street and Chicago Avenue will be relocated to ease concerns about noise and exhaust near outdoor dining, the city council decided this week.
A new motorcycle parking area will be created on the north side of Jackson Avenue east of Egg Harbor Cafe. The cafe does not have an outdoor dining area as Jimmy's does, and other parking spaces are located directly north of the new area where eight motorcycles will be allowed to park up to four in one spot.
"This is the first step in seeing if we can relocate those spaces and move those motorcycles to a place that is less intrusive on some of the businesses with dining," said Karyn Robles, transportation and planning team leader.
Andrew Trasatt, who recently became manager of Jimmy's Grill, approached the city and the Downtown Naperville Alliance about moving the motorcycle parking area so it would not be so close to the only entrance to his restaurant and its large outdoor patio.
"The problem is they all tend to back up" into the parking spaces, Trasatt said about motorcycles that park in the area of Chicago Avenue, which is marked with red pavement stripes and set aside for them between April 1 and Oct. 31. "They tend to rev their engines, the exhaust literally comes right in our front door ... The noise is really a problem."
Downtown business owners and city staff members did not want to remove the motorcycle parking entirely, as Robles said the spots are an important part of the downtown parking mix. The new location was chosen because it is still convenient to restaurants and stores on the south side of downtown.
The city will spend about $500 on installing new signs and pavement striping to change the spots on Chicago Avenue to regular vehicle parking and the area on Jackson Avenue into motorcycle parking.
Aside from the eight motorcycle spaces to be moved, 12 spots for motorcycles are located in the Van Buren parking lot at the southeast corner of Main Street and Van Buren Avenue. Motorcycles are not restricted to these areas and can occupy any parking space in downtown Naperville, parking as few as one or as many as four cycles to each spot.