Oswego trustees discuss increasing fees for downtown parking garage

As work is set to start soon on Reserve at Hudson Crossing’s second building, Oswego village trustees are discussing whether fees for the apartment complex’s parking garage need to be increased.

The village owns and operates a two-level parking structure that is part of the Shodeen Group’s Reserve at Hudson Crossing apartment complex in downtown Oswego. There are 159 parking spaces on the upper level and 180 spaces on the lower level.

A parking garage that will have more than 100 spaces will be built as part of the second building. The second parking garage is expected to be done by the fall of 2026.

Village trustees discussed the parking fee issue during the March 4 Committee of the Whole meeting. The majority of trustees along with Village President Ryan Kauffman said now is not the right time to increase the fees.

The current parking garage is open to the public and provides free parking for visitors to the downtown. Parking spaces are available from 5 a.m. to 2 a.m. for all users.

Parking is allowed between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. for those users who have a parking pass from the village.

“Parking passes are limited to residents of the Hudson Crossing development or residential tenants located along Main Street between Jefferson and Washington streets,” Oswego Development Services Director Rod Zenner said. “Other users can purchase daily parking passes for $5 a day through an online system.”

The village and Shodeen split the costs of operating and maintaining the parking garage. For example, the village is responsible for 25% of the stairwells in the structure.

To estimate what the village’s long-term costs could be for the parking garage, village staff had surveyed other communities that also own parking decks, including Naperville, Aurora, Geneva and Libertyville.

“The big question is, how do we handle the big ticket items, such as resurfacing or structural repair,” Zenner said. “After reviewing what we got from those neighboring communities, we came up with a target of about $100,000 in fees to set up an escrow account so in the long term, if something would occur, we’d have the funds available to repair those items. All the revenues we get go into this parking escrow account.”

The current balance in the parking fund is $317,367.89. In addition to annual maintenance, the fund has been used to fund other projects such as striping – a $40,000 cost – and for planned cameras and counters for the second parking deck, which is a $80,000 cost included in the 2025 budget.

The village offers up to two parking permits per residential unit on a first come, first served basis. The village established a fee of $50 monthly – $600 annually – for the first permit and $83 monthly, or $1,000 annually, for the second permit.

Oswego has not increased parking fees since the opening of the parking garage in 2021.

Village Trustee Tom Guist said he believes the parking fund should be examined at some point to determine if is sufficient to meet the needs of the parking garage.

“We’re going to need a professional who looks at this stuff at some point,” he said.

In response, Oswego Facilities Manager Steve Raasch said the parking deck consultant that the village hired, Walker Consultants, is already analyzing the proposed parking garage to try and get a projection on what the village’s costs will be in the future.

Village Trustee Kit Kuhrt said the village needs to plan for the future.

“Everything rises in price,” he said. “In the future, it’s not going to get cheaper…Just a slight increase could help you in the future.”

Village Trustee Karen Novy suggested any fee increase not take place until next year.

“I don’t feel we’re justified to ask for more until we know how much more we’re actually going to need,” she said. “And I think we’re going to get that information when the second building is built.”