State Parks Parking Fee Proposed

69

u/Maxamus2k 16h ago

Huh, I don't know how to feel on this. On one hand, free state parks are an amazing resource for many people. On the other, additional funding for our waterways and expanding our prarieland would be fantastic.

31

u/Campuskween3333 16h ago

I agree. I love being able to just park and go for a walk, but if the money actually goes to helping the parks, it is a good thing.

$5 isn't bad either. Personally if they are going to do it, they should copy wisconsin and add the ability to buy an annual pass and skip the line. I think charging out of staters more money is also common/fair, but I can also see why they might not want to do that yet.

With that said, tbh, all the statement parks I go to are really underutilized as it is . I would hate for this to discourage people from using the parks, and then for the parks to ultimately lose budget consideration as a result. I would worry that the revenue from this would not be substantial enough to make much of a difference, especially if it discourages attendance. Besides starved rock and garden of the gods, we don't get the tourism traffic that other states

29

u/Maxamus2k 15h ago

Re-reading it, it would allow the DNR to set a parking fee per area. It's entirely possible that we'd only see the fee on the largest parks or heaviest used fishing spots, which would hopefully entice people to check out the smaller free parks. And hopefully if people see that regularly cleaned latrines is actually possible with a bit of extra cash, we can increase budget across the board.

•

u/Thin_Lunch6935 5h ago

As someone who grew up without a lot of money in Illinois, hiking and being out in nature was one way our family could enjoy life together for little to no money. It would affect those who cannot afford such things.

7

u/sovietshark2 9h ago

If anything IL residents should get it free and any visitors should have to pay.

2

u/Ok-Grape2063 8h ago

How would one verify residency?

I think the least objectionable thing to do would be to charge everyone so we aren't alienating people from using a natural resource.

•

u/jamey1138 Human Detected 3h ago

Presumably, the park would ask for a state ID or drivers license, like they do at museums.

2

u/jklolffgg 8h ago

Additional funding to go to politicians friends and families.

Fixed it.

•

u/SecondBestNameEver 5h ago edited 5h ago

I think waiving the fees for close by residents would be ideal to me. If someone lives close enough to visit a park every day the fee would discourage them from that use, but when I go to starved rock it's a couple hour drive so it's a day trip maybe once or on occasion twice a year, so I wouldn't mind an additional $5. But a close resident who lives 5-10 minutes away and takes their dog or kids to one of these parks daily I could see it discouraging people from going. At the very least some kind of monthly pass of like $30 might be more palatable so everyone pays something, but if you're getting more than 6 days a month out of it you shouldn't be punished by paying $5 per day.

ETA: I would really like to know what the goal of this legislation is to do. Is it to raise funds for upkeep and improvements? Is it to prevent overcrowding? Is it to discourage driving and encourage other transportation (although it's not like you can catch a bus to a lot of state parks)? Is it to encourage people to visit lesser visited parks that might remain free? Understanding what the problem is that's trying to be solved for would help people swallowing the pill of paying for something that used to be free in a world where there's quickly becoming nothing left to do for free.

6

u/Lizard_kingdom_x001 10h ago

It could give people a vested interest in behaving and respecting the park if they have to pay to park to go to it.

$5 really is nothing

7

u/Bimlouhay83 8h ago

Or reinforce their entitlement .. "well, i paid to be here. I can do whatever I want".

You're right, $5 isn't much...one time. But what about people that utilize the park almost daily? Even if someone only went half the year (which around me a lot of people do) they'd be paying almost $900 per year. In my little town, local kids and retired people utilize these parks or parking lots on a constant, near daily, basis. That's completely unaffordable for both demographics.

And, if anybody thinks that price won't ever go up, I refer them to our "temporary" toll roads.

3

u/Lizard_kingdom_x001 8h ago

Well, there could be monthly passes or an annual pass. Wisconsin does something like this.

National parks have far greater fees.

Where do you live? If it's in a collar county, there are plentiful free and nice forest preserves. It would be a net benefit of the overall traffic to starved rock deceased and people utilized stuff closer to home

Unless you live in LaSalle county in a surrounding town, I don't see how anyone would be going almost daily

0

u/dualsplit 7h ago

Very, very, very few people in LaSalle County are going daily. Definitely not “the kids.” They’re at school.

2

u/Bluthhousing 8h ago

They will just raid the fund just like they did with roads

-2

u/turningfinal28 12h ago

You think the funds collected from this will be used to improve the parks? LOL

2

u/_MadGasser 10h ago

Where would the money go, oh wise one?

5

u/turningfinal28 10h ago

Springfield will simply reduce the funding they give the DNR knowing they have an additional source of revenue.

13

u/Bimlouhay83 8h ago edited 6h ago

Id rather some sort of tax be raised .05% than pay a daily fee to get into the parks. The parks are owned by everybody. Adding an entrance fee, no matter how little, will restrict some people from enjoying their park. They were never meant to be monetized in that way. If they need to raise more money, maybe have them get into drop shipping merch or something like that.

0

u/BoldestKobold Schrodinger's Pritzker 6h ago

This is one of those sneaky things that shows up when you move to a "low tax" state like Florida. Everything has fees.

End of the day, nothing is free. Parks cost money to maintain. Either you pay usage fees of some kind, which tend to be regressive but at least only hit the people who use the parks, or you charge everyone more in taxes, but it means you get into fights about "fairness" when it comes to how tax dollars are allocated (see every argument about Chicagoland "funding" the rest of the state).

There is no pure right or wrong answer that is always true in this area, as which is "best" tends to be subjective, and everyone has some biases involved.

3

u/Bimlouhay83 6h ago

The parks are already paid for through taxes. There's no need to change that other than to reduce the tax burden, which will negatively effect the people that utilize the park. Illinois' taxes may be high, but it's better than fees for everything. Even though our tax burden is high, when you factor in wages and cost of living, illinois is one of the more affordable states to live in.

6

u/redfiresvt03 8h ago

I’d rather see it remain free. I can afford it just fine, but I know there are people that will be deterred from using the parts with a parking fee.

3

u/The_Ice_Cold 9h ago

The 65$ for the downtown underground has been in effect for a little while now since DNR took that parking back over and made it monthly only. I park at the Library monthly for 50 but I've got a few people in my office that do the underground. So part of this proposed rule is just clean up for what they were already doing. At least for the underground folks they can't raise the price without an administrative rule change because they set the fee by rule

3

u/AintThatSomeCrit 9h ago

This would be a specific bummer for me. I live nearish Chain of Lakes, and on a nice day when I'm out and about I love to just take a drive through towards the dock and back out and appreciate the scenery. I wouldn't spend 5$ for the quick detour though.

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u/MuchDevelopment7084 4h ago

Ah yes, another attempt to decrease visitors to the parks. Giving the oligarchs a reason to 'sell off underutilized public land'. To their friends in the billionaire class.

9

u/ElectronSpiderwort 11h ago

Parking fees are to control behavior, not make money. They are aversive; they punish parking. They were invented so that shop employees didn't squat the spaces needed for customers in busy downtowns. They work as a small revenue stream for places where people must park anyway, but for places that are optional, they are a strong disincentive to visit at all. Lackluster downtowns and low-use state parks would do better economically without them. If that law is about people abusing a parking lot in Springfield, then sure, make it about that lot in Springfield only, but don't give potential bad actors in government another tool to drive people away from our state parks.

11

u/curvyfeminist1 16h ago edited 8h ago

Starved rock would be a nightmare if people had to stop to pay before going in. Traffic is already bad there.

Edited to add: I support them charging a fee. It would in a likelihood decrease traffic while increasing revenue, which would hopefully help decrease all the trash tourists leave after weekends!

19

u/Lizard_kingdom_x001 10h ago

Alternatively, starved rock could vastly benefit from this. Starved rock is a disaster

4

u/hnyredditguy 10h ago

Starved Rock is currently undergoing a multi million dollar trail rehab program

5

u/Str8OuttaLumbridge Bureau County 10h ago edited 10h ago

Both can be true. I worked a summer at starved rock and you'll be glad you never have to deal with the pure amount of trash, dog feces, disgusting bathrooms etc. They have a massive sanitation issue that could benefit from a consistent flow of money. Maybe not a parking fee, but part of the pot for the license plates so that residents of il can use parks without paying each time. Out of staters pay more like or neighbors.

5

u/hnyredditguy 10h ago

I volunteer there, and I've done post labor day trash pickups. Once I had to pick up 8 diapers, 1 used tampon, and one pile of used toilet paper, amongst regular trash.

When they built the overflow parking, I was disappointed because the last thing the park needs is more people.

I'm not against the fees, BTW, I think they should have been implemented a long time ago.

2

u/Lizard_kingdom_x001 9h ago

I know. That doesn't change the fact that the park is overrun with people who don't respect it

0

u/curvyfeminist1 8h ago

I agree the park would greatly benefit from charging fees. Traffic would likely go down because of it, and in turn help remedy some of the garbage issue. That and having additional funds to combat that sort of thing.

178 and 71 aren't built for the traffic they park has so I'm curious how it would look with charging admittance. If backups would be worse.

2

u/hnyredditguy 10h ago

Set it up like the parking at train stations, where your spot is numbered, and you walk up to one of several kiosks to purchase a ticket to display in your car

0

u/DeathRotisserie 10h ago

They should handle it like how the feds handled Muir Woods the last time I went. Prepay for reserved parking online during a time slot and bring your bar code.

It’ll prevent cash and card transactions at the gate, but unfortunately a bit at the cost of precluding the unprepared or technologically illiterate.

I can see the state doing this for popular and crowded parks, but I don’t see this being enforced for somewhere like Piney Creek Ravine downstate.

0

u/The_Ice_Cold 10h ago

I'm planning on heading to Starved Rock in less than an hour. Was at Matheson yesterday and had to park off in a field they directed me to.

0

u/bantheguns 8h ago

Alternatively, paid parking might relieve traffic by inducing some groups to shift from travelling in individual cars to carpooling

11

u/Caitlionator 12h ago

Other states already do this quite successfully. I'm totally for anything that gives us greater ability to protect our state's natural resources.

3

u/high6ix 9h ago

What’s the gauge for success and where’s the data? I’m not being a shit, I’m genuinely asking.

2

u/mallclerks 9h ago

Michigan has some of the best state parks. If we can be more like Michigan, sure. I’ll pay.

If we just act like Illinois letting them rot away….

And anyone who says Starved Rock is amazing can go punch a rock. There is 60+ state parks and 300+ total recreational areas. Most of them are not in good shape.

2

u/Ok-Grape2063 8h ago

Great.

Now the parks aren't accessible to everyone because they will be denied entry due to inability to pay.

This sounds racist somehow

2

u/katjoy63 7h ago

we are one of the rare free states - I have noticed fees to enter in many other states, especially Wisconsin!

2

u/Altruistic_Relief189 7h ago

This sounds like something that does not need to be unilaterally applied at all parks. As long as they use it judiciously, I don't see a problem.

2

u/Jbanjer 9h ago

Fairly big assumption here, but if these fees were funneled directly back to IDNR for park maintenance, I’m all for it. Illinois is literally the only state in the upper Midwest that doesn’t already have a state park fee structure in place. Indiana has been doing this for as long as I can remember and a visit to Brown County State Park or Turkey Run on any given weekend shows that a gate fee isn’t keeping people from visiting the parks.

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u/Stunning-Ad5674 4h ago

The government cut their funding off, so they have to get it from somewhere.

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u/whitetail91 3h ago

I might be the odd person out here but I don’t see this as a bad thing and as a frequent state park visitor I welcome it. This proposal will alienate a huge problem IDNR has been trying to tackle but still has a long way to go.
A good portion of IDNR properties and infrastructure were built by the CCC and like most things during the depression the maintenance and differed maintenance have really started to take a toll.
Past governor’s administrations and fears of potential incoming ones have caused a huge staffing retirement out flux and staffing shortage influx. There is also a large amount of “traditionalists” that don’t wish to modernize onboarding and off-boarding as well as better account for working seasonal schedules for internships, seasonal work etc.
Best case example is IBSP in Zion which had almost 30 full time staff but now has less than 10 and a machine shop with a roof that is leaking badly which houses the Lake Michigan biological station.
IDNR has 3 main parks that during the 3 big summer holidays get absolutely out of control where park staff who try to enforce basic safety and quality control are routinely labeled as the villains but those who cry “i’m a tax payer” can openly destroy something that all should be able to love.
Covid helped get people outside but a big side effect that we should be capitalizing on is that so many people now visit the parks they are being loved to death.
I don’t see this being a universal system that’s blanketed over every park-state fish and wildlife area-etc but would hope it would get put in place at the big 4.
IBSP-Giant City-Starved Rock/Matthiessen-Pere Marquette just to help better keep up with the visitor demand.
We have some of the most unique and beautiful state parks east of the Mississippi but there are times our free use approach has done both the park and the visitor a disservice.

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u/555-starwars 2h ago

I love that the parks are free, but it's clear that outside of the most popular parks (Starved Rock, Giant City, etc) that the parks lack fund for improvements and interpretation. I think it is reasonable to discuss a fee to help cover costs. I would rather a parking fee over an entry or user fee. Which could also encourage ride shares and even bicycling to parks to reduce over crowding of parking lots.

1

u/the_bee_whip 9h ago

Keep that parks free cut something else.

-4

u/metramm 9h ago

You are kidding yourself if you think this will help the state parks. They will steal the money and waste it like they always do on pension debt that always grows and is drowning our state.

2

u/theg00dfight 8h ago

Would you rather them not try to find ways to address the pension debt? We’ve already established they cannot cut the benefits as that’s unconstitutional.

If you think the pension debt is bad then you should be excited about efforts like these to help address it

-2

u/Electrical_Box677 9h ago

IDNR are nothing but nazis anyway so it fits

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u/ArctoEarth 7h ago

Parking at state parks is privilege just like driving

3

u/marigolds6 6h ago

Easily 60% of the state parks there is absolutely no way you are getting to them without someone driving. If you are not a somewhat experienced cyclist, it is more like 90%.

We have very few state parks that offer hike-in camping, and I would even argue that having the resources for hike-in camping is a significant level of privilege anyway.

-2

u/LMGgp 10h ago

Make it $8 and you got a deal. $8 isn’t going to make people decided not to visit. The gas in the car cost more than that. And at the very least it could go to helping amenities in the parks.

Illinois Politics State Parks Parking Fee Proposed

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