Even though she’s been with the McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce for a decade and is plugged in to downtown businesses, Molly Ostap said she didn’t know 35 parking spots in the alley west of Riverside Drive were public.

“I was floored,” Ostap said when that was pointed out to her recently.

Putting up better signs that direct downtown visitors to additional parking spots like those would be a good first step for McHenry’s parking woes, Ostap said.

She also said wants the city to improve its parking signs “before we start worrying about time limits” on McHenry streets.

The McHenry City Council recently agreed, narrowly approving an expenditure of up to $24,100 to create a parking sign master plan and deciding not to change parking time limits – yet.

The signage plan was approved on a 4-3 vote, with Aldermen Andy Glab, 2nd Ward; Chris Bassie, 4th Ward; and Andy Davis, 5th Ward, dissenting.

“Every time we turn around, we are spending tens of thousands of dollars for reviews, designs,” Glab said before his no vote. “I would think that is something staff should be able to do on their own.”

The last time McHenry updated its parking signage was in 2010, according to Economic Development Director Doug Martin’s report to the council. That is when 11 way-finding and other parking signs were installed throughout town.

A parking study completed last year by consultant Kimley-Horn noted that those signs now include outdated or inaccurate information and are too small for drivers to see at speed, and that the public lots downtown lack clear, identifying signs, Martin wrote.

The 2025 parking study recommends monument-style signs at the entrance to identified lots and pedestrian-scaled signs that would encourage walking from parking to stores and restaurants.

The study also recommended McHenry change its four-hour, on-street parking spots to two-hour spots to increase turnover. That limit would change the current, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. time frame to a 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

No vote was held on changing time limits, but the consensus was to leave them as is for now.

Martin and city staff made contact with downtown businesses for feedback on that proposed change, and results were mixed. McHenry would also have to enforce those time limits to be meaningful, Martin said.

That is where customer experience was brought up.

“We don’t want visitors to have a bad taste in their mouth with a ticket on their car” after coming out of a restaurant, Martin said.

Alderwoman Sue Miller, 7th Ward, said she can remember when McHenry had parking meters and when car tires were chalked by a city employee to determine how long the vehicle was parked in one spot.

“We have had every version of downtown parking,” Miller said, adding that if the parking limits are reduced, enforcement needs to be increased.

Ostap spoke against the reduced time limits at the council meeting. From a tourism and economic development perspective, the Chamber and others want to present McHenry as a place “where they want to spend time. That kind of experience does not fit into a two-hour window,” Ostap said.

Once the new signs have been up for six months, the council will again look at whether the time limits should change. When those signs could be in place was not known.

In an effort to help residents find parking spots on busy nights, the Chamber put its own map, with photos, on the McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce Facebook page.