High school students will no longer be able to park on Jamestown Road

O’Fallon Township High School students will not be allowed to park along Jamestown Road during daytime hours when school is in session, after the current term ends.

The O’Fallon City Council approved an ordinance placing signs along both sides of Jamestown Road between U.S. 50 and Holliday Drive, but also passed a motion enforcing the law beginning this summer, during Monday’s council meeting. Signs will be erected by July 1.

Residents had complained about nuisance and safety concerns, and some attended the Public Works Committee on March 27.

Alderman Courtney Marsh introduced a motion seeking to return the issue to the Public Safety Committee for further discussion. It failed 2-11, with Marsh and Alderman Ned Drolet its only support. She was absent from the April 3 meeting where the ordinance advanced on first reading.

Marsh argued that students will park on other streets that will become congested, and the city will have to deal with those issues, so restricting Jamestown doesn’t entirely address the problem.

Ward 3 Aldermen Matthew Gilreath and Ken Hagarty said Public Safety Committee members were present at the Public Works Committee meeting, and disagreed with putting off action.

“Residents came to us to get the problem fixed, and this has been six months. We need to fix the problem on Jamestown, and then we can go street by street as they come up,” Gilreath said.

“This has been thoroughly discussed,” Hagarty said.

Students have parked along the road then walked across U.S. Highway 50 to the high school campus. To park at school, a $100 parking permit is required. Students are also subject to the search-and-seizure rule on campus.

Alderman Herb Roach said residents pointed out trash, like soda and coffee cups, were tossed onto residents’ lawns, and residents complained obscenities were shouted at them.

Parking will be restricted from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., when school is in session.

In other action, the council agreed to sell property at 200 E. Lincoln Ave. to Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation for $550,000. The city will maintain ownership of the adjacent parking lot, which has 32 spaces, but will be leasing it to the foundation.

The council, in a 13-1 vote, granted an extension for the completion of the parking lots for New Life in Christ Interdenominational Church. The church is adding on to its property at 689 Scott-Troy Road. A previous ordinance required the church to pave the back parking lot area prior to occupancy of the auditorium addition. But the church’s pastor, Bishop Geoffrey Dudley, requested to finish the parking lot after the expansion of the sanctuary is completed.

The council amended registration for hotels, motels, lodging houses and rooming houses to require an employee on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, that attends to the registration desk. The amended ordinance also requires rates to be charged by the day, not the hour.

This story was originally published April 20, 2017 at 8:02 AM with the headline "High school students will no longer be able to park on Jamestown Road."