Village Trustee Sharon Williams, who sits on the village’s parking committee, made the announcement about free parking at the board of trustees's April 29 meeting.

The issue of village parking was one the municipality wanted to move quickly on this year in light of major construction overall during the upcoming streetscape project funded by state Downtown Revitalization Initiative money.

Last year, village officials had proposed doing away with meters and installing digital parking kiosks during the streetscape overhaul.

But not everyone was happy with the concept or the machines.

A vocal segment of the community including downtown business people and residents, along with Williams and Village Trustee Lynzie Schulte, who also serves on the village parking committee, were against the idea.

One of the main criticisms of the kiosks and of paid parking in general was that it would deter downtown traffic. The village traditionally had paid parking meters to keep Market Street shoppers moving along so cars were not parked in front of busy storefronts all day. However, the downtown economy has waned in recent years and village officials are focused on attracting commerce to the Market Street block.

During several meetings over the last few months, those opposed to paid parking advocated for free two-hour parking plan instead of kiosks and meters as a way to inspire shoppers to frequent the area.

A few weeks ago, the board dropped the kiosks idea after hearing feedback from the public calling for a different solution.

Williams and the other members of the parking committee studied the issue in some depth with Village Police Chief Mike Ames.

“And we also felt that the parking meters were a deterrent to downtown shopping which obviously needs as much support, and as local government officials, we’re doing away with both (kiosks and meters) and parking will be free,” Williams announced at the April 29 meeting. “There’s just free two-hour parking downtown and all-day parking behind for people who want to stay longer.”

She said for village residents there are parking permits available for those who are interested.

Trustee Schulte also spoke to the change.

“It is exciting. We’ve already had parking meterheads taken down and it looks really nice along Elm Street right now. They’ve actually dug out the posts and it looks really nice,” Schulte said.

“And, things that were kind of eyesores will slowly but surely start looking better in downtown,” the trustee said.

Schulte said one of the highlights of the change is that the village is shifting the parking lot areas around a bit to make parking more accessible. Part of that is increasing handicapped parking spots to around 30 from only about 10 previously, she said.