Aurora parking lot work ready to start

A paving project to turn the former site of the Aurora YWCA into a parking lot is ready to begin under a $319,675 contract approved this week by the city council.

The project will connect two existing lots on the west side of the Fox River between Vine and Pinney streets and create a broad parking area available for merchants, shoppers, diners and Waubonsee Community College students when the school’s downtown campus opens this summer.

The contract also includes construction of sidewalks, storm sewers and a rain garden.

The work won support from 11 aldermen, but Alderman Rick Lawrence opposed it because of concerns the city hasn’t finalized an agreement under which Waubonsee will pay to use some spots.

“We do everything backward,” Lawrence said. “Why wouldn’t you have presented the parking agreement with Waubonsee so we could justify the expenditure of capital to build a parking lot?”

Jeff Noblitt, Waubonsee Community College spokesman, confirmed there is not yet a definitive parking agreement between the college and city. But Noblitt and Carie Anne Ergo, Aurora’s chief management officer, said officials from both entities continue to work toward a deal.

Once paving is complete, the North River Street parking lot will include about 530 spots, more than enough to meet the current demand for downtown parking, Ergo said.

The city expects students to park on the south side of the lot, closest to Waubonsee’s campus at 18 S. River St., where daylong parking will be allowed, Development Director Bill Wiet said.

The north end, closest to the New York Street eateries on Aurora’s Restaurant Row, will be set aside for short-term parking, while the middle will accommodate motorists who want to park for a few hours.

Signs indicating time limits — not meters — will regulate how long vehicles can stay, Wiet said. Parking in all areas of the new lot will be free.

The area soon to be paved housed the Aurora YWCA until the building was torn down in March.

But it’s not intended to stay a parking area forever, Wiet said. The city purchased the YWCA for $6 million last April with the intention of temporarily using it for parking until a developer expresses interest in the riverfront property.

Ergo said paving should be completed by June 1, just in time for the new parking lot to serve as the site of the Blues on the Fox music festival June 17 and 18.