Festival parking flap leads to new towing rules in Buffalo Grove

The Buffalo Grove village board approved a series of new towing regulations Monday in the wake of complaints vehicles were improperly removed from the Buffalo Grove Town Center during Buffalo Grove Days last month.

The new regulations require prominently displayed signs, 30 minutes of advance notice to the police department from the towing company, a written report of a towing to the chief of police and a photograph of the unauthorized vehicle.

The board also set penalties for property owners and towing firms that do not comply, with violators subject to fines up to $750.

Trustee Jeffrey Berman said he had been contacted by a resident whose car was towed without warning from the Town Center parking lot during Buffalo Grove Days. He noted that the village directs residents to park in the shopping center during the annual festival held over Labor Day weekend.

"The towing is taking place without the involvement of the village, without the posting of warning signs, without any direct contact with the vehicle owner," Berman said.

Berman blamed the towing on the Buffalo Grove Theater, and accused its owner and shopping center management of a "cavalier attitude and intransigence."

Theater owner Debbie Benjamin said that although the Town Center parking lot in general is available for parking during the festival, there are 10 rows reserved for three tenants - the theater, a liquor store and a banquet facility.

The person who made the complaint was told those spaces are reserved and ignored warnings from theater employees, Benjamin said. Other drivers that were warned removed their cars, she added.

"The people that were towed were told that they could not park there and that if they did stay there, that they would be towed. So they opted to stay there and ignore us," she said.

Far from failing to issue warnings, Benjamin said she stood in the parking lot on one of the mornings of the festival with a bullhorn, alerting people of the parking restrictions. Signs mark the reserved parking area and the towing company already contacts Buffalo Grove police when removing a vehicle, she added.

"I think the village did this because one person that got their car towed made a stink about it," Benjamin said.