Winnetka has issued nearly twice as many employee parking permits as it has spaces to fill them, and the village is now pushing higher fees, escalating fines and tougher enforcement to free up spots for shoppers.

At the Village Council's Tuesday, Aug. 4 meeting, staff revealed that more than 1,000 Class A permits have been issued to business employees across Winnetka's three commercial districts, Elm Street, Hubbard Woods and Indian Hill, even though only about 540 designated stalls exist. That's an 88% oversaturation rate village-wide.

The worst pinch is at Indian Hill, where 140 permits compete for just 46 spaces.

The discussion followed months of pressure from Lincoln Avenue and Elm Street merchants who say construction of One Winnetka, the four-story mixed-use project at Lincoln and Elm, has made parking far worse. Deb McMahon, manager of J.McLaughlin on Lincoln Avenue for more than 20 years, told the council at its March 19 session that the changes were severely hampering her customers' ability to find parking and that her repeated appeals to trustees had gone unanswered.

Annette Pecora, owner of The 60s Beauty Lash on Lincoln Avenue, described the chaos at the same March 19 meeting, saying customers were parking backward and sideways on Lincoln Avenue and that conditions had gotten "so, so bad" since construction began.

Village staff proposed a slate of short-term fixes at the Aug. 4 meeting, The Record North Shore reported. Among them: raising Class A permit fees from $10 to $25 annually, escalating fines for repeat violators, stricter enforcement of existing rules, improving the permit-distribution process and launching a mobile app for commuters.

Trustee Bridget Orsic called the current $10 fee "pretty quaint" and said a bump to $25 could help thin out the number of permits in circulation. Trustee Tina Dalman raised a separate concern, noting that some of the village's best customer-facing spots are currently reserved for Metra commuters holding Class C permits rather than shoppers.

Trustees Kim Handler and Rob Apatoff both argued that stricter enforcement of rules already on the books could produce quick results without new regulations. "I think you'll be shocked if we start enforcing what we have and being a little tougher on it," Apatoff said.

Village President Bob Dearborn directed staff to move promptly on the easiest solutions, telling them not to wait.

Renovations at the Hubbard Woods parking garage and the West Elm lot at the former post office site have further reduced available spaces in those corridors. One Winnetka's developers have committed to adding 39 public parking spaces at ground level when the project completes in December, but commercial tenants won't begin opening until early 2027.

No specific follow-up meeting date was announced. The village has not disclosed a timeline for implementing the fee increase or new enforcement policies.