With the need for commuter parking in Naperville continuing to grow along with the city’s booming population, members of the Naperville City Council are preparing to study ways to deal with the issue.
According to city documents, the demand for commuter parking is 33.6 spaces per 1,000 city residents. At that rate, when the city’s population reaches as high as 160,000 within the next 10 to 15 years, Naperville will need 5,375 spaces.
It now has fewer than 3,000, an amount that already is expected to be 1,500 spaces short of demand by 2001.
Naperville City Council members said they will hold a workshop Dec. 6 to look at a parking assessment prepared by staff members and a set of recommendations forwarded this month by the city’s Transportation Advisory Board.
With Metra commuter rail officials expected to study the city’s parking crunch in the coming months, the advisory board has recommended that the city review the work and then prepare to add about 1,200 parking spaces at the city’s two Metra stops.
The subcommittee has suggested that after Metra’s study is finished, the city should move to develop configurations for the expanded lots, and identify costs and funding sources.
Also recommended by the advisory board was the equalization of costs between the city’s two stations. The combined cost of a Metra ticket and parking for a day at the two stations should be the same, the board said.
The city also should develop a commuter customer service plan, advisory board members said. That effort would see bulletin boards installed at the stations with information on fees and permits, according to city documents, and ensure that the city does a better job communicating with commuters, using the Naperville Newsletter, local newspapers, Naperville Community Television and the city’s Internet site.
The advisory board also agreed with the staff on establishing a public transportation plan for Naperville. A master plan should be organized to consider mass transit issues, it recommended.
