Plainfield Library, Village Sign Pact for Downtown Parking Improvements

Work will start this summer on a $400,000 project to increase parking in downtown Plainfield, thanks to an agreement between the Village of Plainfield and the Plainfield Public Library.

On Monday, village trustees signed off on an intergovernmental agreement that would use TIF (tax increment financing) district funding to pay for parking improvements to four public lots near Illinois and Division streets.

Plainfield Public Works Director Allen Persons said the project will also include the installation of decorative street lighting to match the lights along Lockport Street in downtown Plainfield.

Library Director Julie Milavec said the project would improve and expand parking at the library's side parking lot, along with an adjacent village-owned lot on Illinois Street. Two other library-owned properties will also get a parking lot makeover — namely, the vacant lot/grassy area behind the library, and the Route 59 parking lot located behind the former Baci Ristorante.

"This really addresses the parking need at this end of downtown," Milavec said, noting the notoriously narrow parking spaces and lanes in the main library parking lot have long been an annoyance for patrons.

"Those spaces are currently not up to standards," she noted, saying the slots will be widened from 8 to 9 feet. 

Persons said the new lot along Division Street/Route 59 will add 14 parking spaces. 

"Once completed, drivers will be able to access all of the lots regardless of if they enter on Illinois or Division," Persons said. In total, 116 parking spaces will be available on both streets after the project is completed this fall, he added.

Persons said the first phase of construction will occur within the new Division Street lot, followed by the reconstruction of the Illinois street lot. "At least half of the parking spaces will be usable during construction," he said.

"This just continues our cooperation to provide parking not only for the library, but for all of downtown," Milavec added. She said the parking areas will be open to local shops and restaurants during evenings and weekends when the library is closed.