Build gravel parking lot at Oswego East High? Village board to discuss potential parking shortage fix

Last week the Oswego SD308 Board of Education and administration reached a consensus not to proceed with construction of an 80 space parking lot at Oswego East High School to remedy long-standing parking issues at and near the school at 1525 Harvey Road.

The decision disappointed residents of the nearby Prescott Mills subdivision who have complained to village and school district officials about the large number of students who park vehicles in their neighborhood.

But that may not be the end of the parking lot story.

In a memo to the Oswego Village Board, Rod Zenner, the village’s development services director, suggests that if school district officials are interested in providing extra parking spaces on school property, the village could process a zoning variance that would allow the installation of a gravel parking lot.

“This would allow the school district to install additional parking at a lesser cost than an asphalt or concrete lot at a lower cost and on a faster timeline,” Zenner wrote.

To cover the cost, Zenner suggested revenue from development impact fees could be used to pay for the gravel lot.

The village board is set to discuss the parking situation at OEHS and Zenner’s memo when they gather for a committee-of-the-whole meeting at 6 p.m. at Village Hall, 100 Parkers Mill.

But school board members indicated during a June 6 meeting they do not believe more parking is the answer.

Superintendent John Sparlin told the board he could not guarantee that the addition of roughly 80 parking spaces to the school grounds would solve the problem.

“This is due to the fact that even adding the additional spots, which would be the most spots we could add onto our existing property, there are still more students who have driver’s licenses than parking spots and that they may still decide to drive and park in the legal parking spots in Prescott Mills,” Sparlin said.

Sparlin said later that a rough estimate for the cost of adding the parking lot would be about $400,000.

Board member Lauri Doyle said that with enrollment at OEHS projected to decline, ‘this one makes no sense to me.”

Doyle said efforts by the school district to deter students from parking in Prescott Mills are futile.

“They are parking legally on a public street,” Doyle said.

Sparlin described a May 11 meeting between top school and village of Oswego officials, along with representatives of the various Prescott Mills homeowner associations.

“I shared that we had made announcements at the school about parking in Prescott Mills, about being respectful and following speed limit and parking signs,” Sparlin said.

OEHS has slightly more than 1,000 vehicle parking spaces on the property, with about 650 reserved for students.

Since the school building first opened 16 years ago, three parking lots with a total of about 500 spaces have been added as enrollment has grown over the years.

Board member Jennifer Johnson, who was present at the May 11 meeting, said “the onus has been placed on the school district to fix this.”

Doyle replied: “I don’t think we can fix this.”

“We are always going to have this issue,” Johnson said.

The Board of Education’s response disappointed Nathan Brown, president of the Prescott Mills single-fmaily homeowners association.

“It’s clear the school district is not going to add a single additional parking space at Oswego East,” Brown said.

Currently, about 70 to 90 student vehicles are parked in front of the single-family homes and townhouses along Prescott Mill’s streets on a typical school day, Brown said at a previous board meeting, asserting that an additional 80 spaces on the school grounds “would go a long way to solving this problem.”

“They believe it’s 100% a village issue and have completely washed their hands of any and all responsibility,” Brown said of school district officials, adding that he will seek another meeting with school and village leaders.

“We deserve so much better than this from our elected officials,” Brown said.