Flossmoor’s South Commuter Lot, which adjoins the village’s Metra station just steps from downtown, may be reimagined as a public park and community gathering space with the help of an Illinois Department of Natural Resources grant.
“This would be a great spot to do events,” Homewood-Flossmoor Park District executive director Doug Boehm said at a Wednesday open house. “We can host concerts, whatever, you name it. Things that we do in the park— celebrations and movies in the park, all sorts of things.”
The property belongs to the village, but would potentially be transferred to the Park District if the project goes forward, Boehm said. Homewood has more than 20 parks, while Flossmoor has just seven, he said.
“Instead of bringing everybody from Flossmoor to Homewood always, we can bring people here and let them stay where they live,” Boehm said.
Liz Dafoe of Upland Design, which is partnering with the village, said the village and Park District could potentially apply for an Illinois Department of Natural Resources Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development Grant to fund the project.
Applications for the grant open in July and close at the end of August, she said.
The lot was mostly empty Wednesday afternoon, with spots in the first few rows near the entrance occupied but the majority vacant.
“I think that when a lot of people were commuting downtown, this was a much more utilized parking lot,” Dafoe said. “I think since the pandemic, there’s kind of been this shift in commuting, they’ve seen this kind of consistent underutilization.”
Under a preliminary plan presented Wednesday, the end of the lot farthest from downtown would be preserved for parking, with 35 spots remaining. The lot now has 218 spots, according to Flossmoor’s website.
“Observation seems to indicate that it’s underutilized,” said Park Board member Erika Schafer. “Sometimes when we have events around here, there doesn’t seem to be an appropriate space.”
Schafer said the recent Juneteenth parade, which concluded with a festival at the commuter lot property, emphasized to her how much better the space could be if it was designed to accomodate community events.
“There were people who put their chairs and tents and stuff on the little bit of green space that sort of surrounds the parking lot,” Schafer said. “It occurred to me, you know, if this really were a park that’s sort of designed for this, people could really sit around and relax and enjoy an event like that a little bit more comfortably.”
Some ideas displayed Wednesday included a bandshell, mist fountain and children’s play area.
“It looks more creative than the other play areas that we have in town,” said resident Karen Shaw. “I think it’s nice to utilize that prime real estate in the middle of our downtown for something more useful.”
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Cmdr. John Beele, of the Wally Burns Veterans of Foreign Wars post, said that he thought the reimagined property would be a perfect place for the proposed Flossmoor Veterans Memorial.
Park Board member Byron Walker struck an exuberant tone.
“This is one more thing to make Homewood-Flossmoor a beautiful place to live,” Walker said.
Resident Barbara Karstrom, who lives in Heather Hill subdivision, said she was concerned about where people would park.
“When we want to go downtown, like on the weekends and stuff, that’s where we end up parking,” Karstrom said.
The commuter lot costs $3 a day to park during the week, according to the village’s website, but is free on weekends and between 4 p.m. and 2 a.m. on weekdays.
“There’s a lot of establishments that have busy evening business,” Karstrom said, giving the examples of Beyond Borders and Flossmoor Social, which both opened last year.
Karstrom pointed to the now-complete Downtown Streetscape project, which tied up much of the village’s downtown with road work last summer, as an example of the way local businesses can suffer when parking availability is compromised.
Safa Muhammad lives in the townhomes adjoining the lot, and attended the open house with some neighbors. She said she was concerned they weren’t notified directly of the proposed project.
“We literally just got notified through a friend of a friend,” Muhammad said. “Nothing to show that this was even a thought. So it’s kind of like a slap in the face.”
For people who live in the townhomes, their friends and families frequently come visit them on the weekends, and use the lot to park, Muhammad said.
“Taking away 75% of the parking space and only leaving 35 parking spots is not fair to our family and friends,” Muhammad said. “It’s just a lot to consider, although the idea behind it is very beautiful.”
In Homewood, a proposal to redevelop the Village Hall parking lot into a mixed-use residential and commercial space has met with similar concerns regarding the loss of free parking close to downtown.
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