Finding a parking spot while venturing out for a night on the village may be a little less painful with 17 new spots added to the area through an agreement with the village and a local business and the removal of a few 'no parking' signs.
Shorewood officials say although the new provided sufficient off-street and on-street parking, new additions to the 4500 block of North Oakland Avenue including , and , have put additional strain on demand for on-street parking spaces.
Construction on a new development coined Ravenna has eliminated 12 parking spaces and isn’t expected to wrap up until July.
The co-owner of Three Lions, David Price, says he has fielded several complaints from bar-goers over the lack of parking.
Shorewest Realty to the north of the congested business district agreed to make 13 spaces available in its lot at 4559 N. Oakland Ave., Monday through Friday evenings and starting at noon on weekends.
Officials say the realtor is providing the parking free of charge, but the village anticipates spending roughly $150 to $250 on signage for the lot.
On weekdays, the spots will become available at 6 p.m. and noon on weekends, but the lot will close at midnight throughout the week.
Officials say Shorewood police will patrol the lot to ensure patrons aren’t abusing the added parking.
Once the Ravenna is completed, the parking agreement will expire.
“I just have to say, this is a pretty nice of Shorewest to do this for the village,” Village President Guy Johnson said.
Shorewood Police Chief David Banaszynski was also tasked with looking into parking remedies near the congested Oakland Avenue block.
Officials say Banaszynksi looked at neighboring blocks and found a strip of East Kensington Avenue with no parking signage that wasn’t consistent with the rest of the street, as parking was allowed.
Village officials agreed to remove the signs from the south side of the 1700 block of East Kensington Boulevard.
“It’s four or five spots right off the business district,” Trustee Thad Nation said.
Trustee Jeff Hanewall said village staff couldn’t find a reason or history detailing the rationale behind the no parking signage.
“There was nothing about why one little stretch of Kensington has no parking signs,” Hanewall said.
Laurie