Parking, traffic changes at two North Aurora schools

People picking up or dropping off students at two North Aurora elementary schools will have to make a few changes this school year.

The village board this week changed some of the parking and traffic flow rules for Schneider and Goodwin schools in response to concerns raised by school officials and neighbors.

Poplar Place residents who live near Goodwin said cars parked in diagonal spaces on the west side of the street often make awkward U-turns in the street or use their driveways to turn around, to try to go north. Typically, they want to get to Oak Street, a major east-west arterial several blocks to the north. Several residents asked the board in July to consider making Poplar a one-way street.

That isn't happening, but the board did agree to revert to a previous traffic plan, where buses will enter the circle drive from the south to pick up and drop off students, then head north on to Poplar to where it ends at Harmony Drive and turn east or west. Car drivers can drop off or pick up students on the west side of Poplar.

"If this doesn't work out, then the next thing is to remove the angled parking," Village President Dale Berman said.

At Schneider, the construction of a parking lot at a nursing home next to the school should alleviate problems with nursing home workers parking on Banbury Road in front of the school.

The board Monday designated the west side of Banbury, in front of the school, as a 15-minute parking zone. Drivers will be allowed to drop off children north of the school's driveway entrance. It designated an area on Dee Road, west of the driveway's exit, as a pickup zone. The school district has also arranged with a church across Banbury to use its parking lot for a pickup point, and has asked the board for permission to paint a crosswalk there. The board has not voted on that request yet.

Mark Engen, District 129 transportation director, thanked the board for working quickly on the matter. School starts Aug. 26, and the district wants to get information out to parents as they register their children this month.

"We are happy with the decisions that are being made," he said.