Stevenson demand leads to parking limits at Prairie View Metra station
Demand for parking spots at the Prairie View Metra station has prompted Vernon Township officials to limit permits for Stevenson High School students.
The station, on Main Street north of Route 22, is a short walk from Stevenson on Route 22 in Lincolnshire. It's a popular parking spot for students who are unable to park on campus.
But this school year, so many students were parking at the station that commuters complained they couldn't find spots in the morning, Vernon Township Supervisor Daniel Didech said.
In response, the township capped at 60 the number of monthly, quarterly, semiannual and annual Prairie View parking passes sold to Stevenson students. The station lot has 331 total spaces. Students are not allowed to buy daily parking passes for the station's lot.
Additionally, the township set aside 33 of about 80 parking spaces at nearby Peterson Park, on Buffalo Grove Road at Port Clinton Road, for students willing to pay for the privilege.
"Those spots are numbered and each student has an assigned spot, so everyone who buys a permit there will have a reliable place to park," Didech said.
Monthly parking passes at Peterson Park cost $30, quarterly passes cost $90, second-semester passes cost $137, and annual passes cost $227 - all slightly less than the corresponding passes for the Metra lot.
Even though the park is a little farther from the school than the Metra station, passes sold out quickly and a waiting list was created, Didech said. Ten more student-only spots are planned, Didech said.
"We aren't selling every spot because we need spaces for people using the park and using the facilities for other programs," he said.
The township also is eliminating two-hour limits on some of the Metra station's spots to give commuters more spaces.
The township hasn't received any complaints from commuters since the changes were enacted, Didech said.
Some Stevenson students park away from the school because on-campus parking is limited, spokesman Jim Conrey said.
Stevenson officials have advertised the Metra station lot as a parking option for students in the past, Conrey said, but they didn't do so this summer.
With demand so high, township officials are considering allowing student parking at the nearby township office, 3050 N. Main St.
They're also exploring launching a shuttle service between Peterson Park and the Stevenson campus, which is less than a mile away.
The costs - for a driver, gasoline and bus maintenance - would be passed along to students via a permit fee increase, Didech said.
Stevenson doesn't have the manpower to run a shuttle bus to and from the park, Conrey said.
"We always encourage students to use the bus service that we provide, which has no additional cost," he said. "Unfortunately, less than 50 percent of students choose to ride the bus."