Three-Hour Parking Signs Go Up In Downtown Plainfield

PLAINFIELD, IL — The Plainfield Police announced Thursday via their Facebook page that new three-hour limit parking signs have gone up on Lockport Street from Fox River Street to James Street. According to officials with the village's Public Works department, the signs were installed by Wednesday, Feb. 19. The parking limit is not universal; it will only be enforced between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday to Saturday.

The request for a three-hour parking limit on this stretch of Lockport initially came from Plainfield Police Chief John Konopek. He put the request before the Village Board at their Feb. 3 meeting, and the trustees approved it the same night. Konopek said the three-hour limit is meant to ensure availability of parking around the downtown business corridor as it continues to expand.

"As the downtown business corridor has started to move westward, we have started to encounter some parking... concerns as far as time limit parking," Konopek said on Feb. 3. He added that night that it would be "no sooner than a couple weeks" before the new parking time limits took effect.

With a "couple weeks" now come and gone, the signs are up and the parking limit is in effect. However, Plainfield Police Commander Ken Ruggles said the limit would not be enforced with ticketing or towing until March.

"We were going to start with warnings for probably the rest of February here... I think our plan was March 1 to actually begin enforcement on that," Ruggles said.

On the Police's Facebook page, reception to the news of a new parking limit has been mixed. Some people were happy to see that parking in such a busy area would be more firmly regulated, while others expressed frustration that they could be forced to give up an already hard-to-find parking space. Still others were worried how the move would affect local businesses.

"Almost everytime I drive through downtown Plainfield the parking is usually full on Lockport Street. I see the logic in this because there are probably people who would stop and go to some of the shops/restaurants/etc. but choose to not to because there is no convenient parking," one commenter said.

"...this is just a money racket. Plainfield cares more about their businesses than their actual residents and constituents," said another.