July 29th, 2008 - The Beacon Newss - Author: Andrea Salles

Hometown considers overnight parking permits

AURORA -- On Thursday, the HomeTown Homeowners Association will propose a solution to the parking problem they have faced for years: parking permits for vehicles on the street between 2 and 5 a.m.

Those permits would cost $300 per year for personal vehicles, and $600 per year for business vehicles.

The idea, according to Association President Tom Bromann, is to reduce the number of parked cars clogging the streets of the 1,300-home subdivision on Aurora's East Side. Residents there have complained that parking is at a premium, and the streets might be too narrow to accommodate all the cars.

Last year, the city conducted a parking study at HomeTown Aurora, and found that 30 percent of households there have three or more cars, and 3 percent have five or more vehicles. And some, Bromann said, have as many as 10.

The hope, he said, is to get people to reduce the number of cars they own, and park in their garages as much as possible.

The original HomeTown annexation agreement, passed in 1994, called for a ban on street parking between 2 and 5 a.m., but that ban has never been enforced. Bromann said he doesn't want to go that far, but believes the permit program would cut down on the number of "abandoned" vehicles.

The money, he said, would go to repair damaged streets. Under a permit program, those who own more cars would pay more of the costs. The fee amount, Bromann said, was suggested by developer Perry Bigelow, owner of Bigelow Homes and a member of the Association, and was modeled on a similar program elsewhere.

"We wanted the plan to be as soft as we could make it and still have enough teeth to get rid of the abandoned vehicles," Bromann said.

Alderman Stephanie Kifowit, who represents the 3rd Ward, which includes HomeTown, called the fee "exorbitant," and resisted the idea of parking permits as deterrents. She said homes should have a certain number of assigned spaces on the street to park, and permit fees should not be a "moneymaking venture."

Bromann noted the proposal is just that -- a proposal, and the homeowners will decide whether it moves forward.

"I hope it encourages people to be more neighbor-friendly, and park their cars in their garage," he said.

The HomeTown homeowners meeting starts at 7 p.m. at Allen Elementary School on Farnsworth Avenue. It is not open to the public -- only HomeTown residents may attend.

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