Trustees hear Glencoe neighbors who blast possibility of street parking near business district

Facing opposition from residents living adjacent to the Village’s business district, the Glencoe Village Board has adopted the findings of a long-in-development parking study without three areas that multiple residents spoke against during a recent Village Board meeting.

In a 5-0 vote, with Trustee Dudley Onderdonk abstaining, the Glencoe Village Board on Thursday, June 18, adopted the Glencoe Streetscape and Parking Study, while amending it to remove three areas that were identified in the study as potential locations for street parking:
• The 300 block of Park Avenue West,
• The 700 block of Vernon Avenue, and
• The west 300 block of Hazel Avenue

Taylor Baxter, the Village’s director of development services, said the Streetscape and Parking Study began in November 2024, with one of its main purposes being determining if additional parking opportunities exist in Uptown Glencoe, which is what the Village’s business district is called by residents and officials.

Parking has frequently been a topic of conversation among Village officials, with some saying the debate over parking in Glencoe has been happening for decades.

The study, Baxter said, included multiple forms of public outreach including two community surveys, focus groups and an open house. The study was also discussed at both Village Board and Plan Commission meetings.

“(The study) really does focus on looking for some opportunities to prove parking throughout the area, but really not at the expense of the character of the area and walkability,” Baxter said. “The prioritization of pedestrian connectivity and safety was repeatedly the highest priority from the Plan Commission and that was affirmed by the Village Board in discussions that we’ve had.”

While he added that the study also includes recommendations to update outdoor dining standards and suggestions to encourage visitors to avoid car travel, a major part of the study is suggestions for ways to increase the Village’s parking stock, such as additional street parking.

Baxter and other Village officials stressed that the study’s findings are merely suggestions.

“The study does not call for constructing new on-street parking,” Baxter said. “It calls for studying it and having this conversation moving forward.”

Village President Howard Roin reiterated Baxter’s comments.

“We’re not deciding today whether there are going to be any parking spaces in front of anybody’s house,” he said. “We’re just looking at it. Parking uptown has been thought to be a big problem for as long as I’ve lived here (reportedly since 1955). It continues to be a big problem and we are constantly doing what we can to increase the parking, because people don’t want to walk very far to get to those places they want to walk.”

He later added that, if the Village wanted to pursue street parking in front of private homes, it would be a process involving residents.

Neighbors speak up

Following Roin’s comments, 16 residents, many of them identifying themselves as living on or near Vernon Avenue, spoke in opposition to any potential addition of street parking in their area.

Many of the speakers said more street parking would negatively impact Friends Park, located near Vernon Avenue and Park Avenue.

Vernon Avenue resident Abby Persky said that the street already sees traffic issues, and shared concerns about what new parking would do to both residents and Friends Park visitors.

“(Street parking) would permanently alter the residential neighborhood of the block and eliminate the buffer zone between the residential and commercial district,” Persky said. “We appreciate the Village’s efforts to support local businesses — I’m a business owner myself — but not at the expense of the lived experience of our residents or the safety of our children.”

Harry Maisel said he lives adjacent to Friends Park and believes adding parking would only increase traffic concerns on Vernon Avenue, which he said already include landscaping vehicles and delivery trucks.

“It can be a scary place, and it will be a bottleneck, especially when you approach the park,” he said, later adding, “I think there should be more exploration of some better parking options.”

Ben Miller said adding more parking to the Friends Park area contradicts the Village’s goals of promoting green space.

“Our goal is to make Glencoe more sustainable,” he said. “Adding more pavement and getting rid of green goes in the wrong way.”

Those concerns were also mentioned in a letter from Patricia McAdams, who could not attend the meeting but whose message was read by her daughter-in-law, Kim McAdams.

“The convenience of a handful of additional parking spaces does not justify sacrificing valuable green space and altering the character of the neighborhood,” the letter reads. “The grassy area near Friends Park … provides a buffer between children and traffic, offers a place for residents and visitors to gather, and contributes to the beauty and charm of our community. It is disheartening to think that this space could be replaced with asphalt.”

Trustee response

Following public comment, Trustee Gary Ruben said that he had initially supported exploring parking in front of Friends Park but hearing feedback from residents changed his mind.

He suggested removing the adjacent areas to uptown from consideration, saying that even if the board decided to explore them, he didn’t think the end result would be any different.

“Personally, I think that’s where we’re going to wind up,” Ruben said. “We’re going to hear this, we’re going to understand it, we’re going to hear it again if we have more meetings about it. And I don’t know how (fellow trustees) are going to vote, but I’m going to say I’m with (the residents).”

Trustee Hilary Scott, who agreed to remove the west side streets from consideration, called the vote “tricky” because she personally believes it’s worth studying to see if adding on-street parking is feasible, but that also would not make residents comfortable.

“I think there’s probably a feeling in the room that you’d like some reassurance that we’re not going to look at it anymore,” she said to the audience.

Onderdonk, in his comments, didn’t take a position about whether or not to remove any streets from consideration, but suggested that the Village could take an approach to test out the recommendations, and if they don’t work, they could be removed in the future.

“You could make a case that (parking) has been identified as a serious and important problem, and we’re going to attack it from a number of different angles,” he said.

Roin, who as village president does not cast a vote unless it is to break a tie, said he personally was opposed to removing any streets from being considered to add parking. He said that even though west side Glencoe residents are opposed to adding parking, the Village is “constantly under pressure” from those who don’t live near the business district to do something about adding spaces.

“My personal view is I would continue to study it,” he said, admitting that while the Village would probably ultimately end up saying no to residential street parking in uptown, he believes it’s still worth reviewing.

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