After senior Mary Pavia heard the school towed her car from the C lot, she saw the era of free parking in the student lot dragged away with her black Ford Fiesta.
With the Department of Natural Resources recording snowfall for 31 days already this winter, the weather has taken its toll on daily life from jammed commutes to school cancellations. Now students can add parking to this list as the school steps up enforcement on those parked without a permit in a lot shrunken by snowbanks.
After changes in the parking system last fall, Assistant Principal Scott Meyers said the student office sold out its limit 200 parking passes for the 186 spaces in the lot. Students parked without passes compound this shortage in space, leading the administration to step up  towing efforts.
According to the student handbook, students must receive two warnings before towing unless parked in fire lanes and handicap spaces. Meyers said these issues force the school to enforce this policy more strictly on violators more than it has in the past.
“The bigger issue is the small amount of space we have for parking,” Meyers said. “With the amount of people we found without a permit, we needed to step up warnings.”
Meanwhile, St. Louis Park city officials asked residents last week to park only on the odd-numbered side of the street to allow larger vehicles to pass through, especially emergency vehicles. This request includes parking on Idaho Avenue and 33rd Street, areas commonly used by students without passes.
Sophomore Gabrielle Johnson, whose friends received verbal warnings to leave the C lot immediately, said she understands the school’s predicament in finding parking spaces, but expressed frustration for students who now cannot purchase passes.
“I don’t know what the school expects people to do now that they have sold out of passes,” she said.
Meyers said the school cannot do much to accommodate students without passes.
“The unfortunate reality is trying to find spots in the neighborhood, and if they aren’t able to find one they may have to look into mass transit,” Meyers said.
For those parking on the street, city’s request to restrict parking comes two years after a similar winter season forced the city to make the same appeal.  to residents. Jamie Zwilling, communications and marketing coordinator for the city of St. Louis Park, said this strategy proved widely successful, even with voluntary participation.
“We asked people to comply (in 2012) and saw really good compliance,” Zwilling said. “We estimate 90 percent of the people parking on streets cooperated and moved their cars voluntarily.”
While the polar vortex continues to consume much of the region, a reprieve from snow has allowed the school to re-clear some spots lost to snow.
Still, with the Weather Channel’s forecast predicting the return of snow showers, students may need to look beyond the lot to park their cars.