Geneva High board mulls school parking ideas

After successful talks between the city of Geneva and architects working on proposed expansion of Geneva High, school board members Monday chose a plan to add more student parking.

Oak Brook-based FGM Architects presented three different schemes for additional parking near the high school's tennis courts.

Upon their recommendation, school board members favored a plan that would put a parking lot just west of the tennis courts on Center Street, with access from the west on Charles Street.

The intent of the plan is to steer traffic exiting the lot to the west, away from some of the smaller streets, to the larger ones.

In addition, the plan calls for the reconstruction of the high school's eight tennis courts, increasing the amount to 10.

"We're not only looking at parking, but the expansion of the tennis courts," explained Terry Owens of FGM Architects, in addressing the board's concern that the high school expansion is centered around parking.

According to Owens, the addition of two more tennis courts will make the school more able to host tournaments on-site.

The new tennis courts would be stacked rather than in a straight row, allowing for better supervision.

In addition, the school board is also considering changing the parking along Gray Street from parallel to perpendicular, which would add 60 more spaces.

The next step in the expansion planning will be a traffic study to determine if the chosen design is the safest, and if any changes or addition of traffic signage is necessary.