Proposed changes to single-family zoning designations throughout Oak Park are at the forefront of public discussion with community concerns raised over how these changes might impact Oak Park’s historic limits on parking cars on most streets overnight.
Craig Failor, Oak Park’s head of development services, simply said they wouldn’t.
“The zoning recommendations have no impact on the overnight parking ban per se. What the recommendations indicate is that there should be a discussion and consideration about the ban, but the overnight parking ban has nothing to do with zoning,” said Failor. “It’s not even a consideration at this point.”
The overnight parking ban dates back to 1937 and has been challenged and changed over the decades. It currently restricts parking on streets from 2:30 a.m. to 6 a.m., except for designated permit and multifamily housing areas which require a displayed parking permit.
Even in multifamily areas, one cannot park in front of churches, schools and parks and on blocks where there is over 50% single-family housing according to the village website.
On June 1, Illinois passed the People Over Parking Act which prohibits local governments from enforcing minimum parking requirements on developments within half a mile from a transportation hub or an eighth of a mile from a transportation corridor. This covers about 85 to 90% of Oak Park according to Failor.
The recommendations from Opticos, a consulting firm hired by the village to study zoning, does briefly mention overnight parking on page 26 of the document and the Strategic Vision used to create the recommendation “identified the overnight parking regulations as an issue warranting review,” and “any changes should be studied carefully and discussed publicly as part of the village’s broader land use goals.”
Although any decisions made on single-family zoning do not directly change anything with parking, concerns have been brought up for how it can indirectly impact it down the road.
“If the village permits substantially greater residential density, more households will mean more cars,” wrote Audrey Strode in a letter to the editor published in Wednesday Journal.
Without the ability to require on-site parking for developments, most overnight parking permits are already sold out and no plans to lift the overnight parking ban, it begs the question where people will be able to park.
Failor said he thinks developers will still include parking even though it is no longer mandated.
“I think people who would develop properties within the village will probably provide parking because they’re more marketable,” said Failor. “It’d be very difficult for a developer to come in and build multiple buildings that do not have parking associated with them.”