Free parking in downtown Joliet behind schedule

Free parking on downtown Joliet streets appears to be months behind schedule, but City Manager Beth Beatty says it’s on the way.

Beatty said a proposal for free street parking should go the the City Council for a vote by its May 20 meeting.

As to when free street parking will follow, she did not say, but suggested it would not be long.

“As soon as we get approval from council and we’re able to get signs up so everyone is aware, we should be able to get it through,” Beatty said this week.

At least some council members have appeared eager to put free street parking in place.

Council members Cesar Cardenas, whose District 4 includes downtown, and Joe Clement, an at-large councilman, have occasionally asked for updates on the timetable for free parking at council meetings.

Cardenas was told at one point in 2024 that free street parking should be in place by the end of the year.

He asked about the program as the council approved acquisition of a mobile license plate reader that will be used to enforce time limits on street parking without meters in place to ensure users are not occupying spaces all day.

Settling on what that enforced time limit should be has been one of the issues that has delayed implementation, Beatty said.

City staff has not yet settled on a time-limit, although two hours is the likely limit, Beatty said.

The plan has been to continue having paid parking in the two parking decks downtown while street parking would become free.

The question of free parking downtown has lingered in the city for years.

Business owners say the need to feed meters is a deterrent for customers accustomed to free parking when they don’t come downtown.

Previous Mayor Bob O’Dekirk was an advocate of free parking, although the city never came up with a plan to make it a reality when he was mayor.