Street parking restrictions proposed again in Mundelein
More than a year after Mundelein officials proposed — and then rejected — villagewide street parking restrictions, trustees again are considering limiting parking in some residential neighborhoods.
The streets being targeted this time are too narrow to allow large emergency vehicles, such as fire trucks, to pass if cars are parked on both sides.
“When they call 911, we've got to get our vehicles there,” Trustee Ray Semple said during a discussion of the plan Monday night at village hall.
Streets between 20 and 24 feet wide could be restricted to one-side parking only. Streets less than 20 feet wide could have a complete parking ban.
Stretches of about 30 streets could be subjected to new parking restrictions, including multiple blocks on Aberdeen Lane, Highland Road, Killarney Pass Drive, North Shore Drive, Wellington Avenue and Woodlawn Drive, among others.
Village officials will seek public opinions before taking action. Maps and other documents will be published at mundelein.org for 60 days. If parking bans are approved this winter, they won't go into effect until spring 2017, when the ground is again soft enough to plant signs, Village Administrator John Lobaito said.
The restrictions wouldn't affect nearly as many residents as two proposals put forth last year.
The goals at the time were to minimize car burglaries, reduce the potential for crashes, make it easier for public works crews to remove snow and clean streets, and improve access for fire trucks.
The first plan was unveiled in July and would have banned overnight parking on every street. It was widely criticized by residents, and officials asked for a different solution.
In October, the board debated asking people to park on the side of the street with odd-numbered addresses between 3 and 5 a.m. on odd-numbered dates, and on the even side of the street for those two hours on even-numbered dates.
Once again, the plan faced opposition from residents. Additionally, officials said posting signs at the ends of every block in town would have been much costlier than expected.
So the plan was scrapped and staffers were asked to review the current parking rules and develop modifications and an enforcement strategy.
During this study, village employees examined nearly 500 street segments and found 98 were less than 24 feet wide, according to a village memo. Of those streets, 38 already have parking restrictions.
Of the 60 remaining segments, 44 were between 20 feet and 24 feet wide, and 16 were less than 20 feet wide.
Those 60 segments are the ones now being considered for partial or complete parking bans.
As part of the project, officials also reviewed existing parking ordinances and removed some redundancies and errors. Some erroneous parking signs were replaced, too.