S. Elgin townhouse residents stuck between snow and tow place

The warm weather of late has been a welcome relief for residents of the Sandhurst townhouse development in South Elgin.

But more headaches are in the forecast.

It seems that every time it snows, motorists there find themselves between a parking ticket and a tow truck.

For years, the village has banned on-street parking during snowfalls of 2 inches or more.

The buildings in Sandhurst have four units, each with a one-car garage shared by a large driveway. There's room for one car outside the garage, but the townhouse association tows cars parked two deep because it blocks the common driveway.

So residents face either a $150 tow or a $30 ticket, or they must drive around in circles in the middle of the night while the plows come through.

Numerous vehicles were towed or ticketed during storms in early December and around New Year's Eve.

"We are all in the same boat -- all getting towed or ticketed left and right," resident Bruce Gartzke said.

Police Chief Chris Merritt said the issue comes up almost every year, but this winter complaints have been louder because of several large snowfalls.

"From a village standpoint, our snow ordinance works for us. We think it's fair," Merritt said. "Believe me, I feel for them. But there's no alternative that works for the village and Sandhurst that's been proposed."

Some have suggested a system of parking on alternate sides of the street based on even-odd days.

Merritt predicted that would lead to complaints about vehicles getting plowed in. He said he would consider that only if a petition was put together showing that residents overwhelmingly favor that option.

So that's what resident Gartzke is doing.

He's been to a third of the 240 units along Lowell Drive and Sandhurst Lane and only two people have voiced opposition to that plan.

"I've got a lot of 'congratulations' and 'thank you for doing this,'" Gartzke said. "They really have been waiting for this for a long time."

Gartzke plans to deliver the signatures to Merritt and village trustees in coming weeks.