Parking options are about to become more limited for students at McLean High School.
Members of the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday (Sept. 29) to add another local street into the residential parking district that surrounds the high school.
As a result, the stretch of Felix Street from Westmoreland Street to Broyhill Street will be permit parking only during school hours on weekdays.
Eight of 10 residents of that stretch of Felix Street, located southeast of the high school, petitioned for inclusion in Residential Parking District 21.
“I have two young daughters, so this really affects me,” said Jess Forster, who lives in the affected area.
She pointed to concerns about traffic congestion, trash, debris and inappropriate behavior from some students who use the street.
On the opposite side of the argument was Tiago Studart, a McLean High School junior who said he and classmates “rely on that parking” given limits at the school.
He said making another street off limits is a Band-Aid solution.
“The demand doesn’t just disappear because one street becomes unavailable,” Studart said. “It would just move that problem somewhere else.”
If supervisors added restrictions, Studart requested they be deferred until the end of the 2026-27 school year, something that briefly won the attention of supervisors.
“I am sympathetic to the concerns about changing midstream, in the middle of the school year,” Board Chair Jeff McKay said.
In the end, supervisors decided it wouldn’t be appropriate to delay implementation. In response to McKay’s questions, staff said it would take about four weeks to have signage ordered and installed. Enforcement wouldn’t begin until after signage was in place.
The county government has specific guidelines in place for where parking restrictions can be put in place around schools, and the stretch of Felix Street meets them, Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman said.
“I appreciate the point” made by Studart on students simply parking one block further away, Bierman said. But “we have a system in place” and need to adhere to it, he said.
Streets already off-limits to student parking around the school include stretches of Westbury Road, Center Street, Sea Cliff Road, Margie Drive, Craig Lane, Girard Street, Tyndale Street, Warner Avenue, Great Falls Street, Bonheim Court, Ridgedale Court, Simmons Drive, Rosemont Drive, Broyhill Street, Hamel Hill Court and Symphony Court.
Parking in those areas is by permit only on school days from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Those who violate the parking restrictions are subject to a $75 fine per occurrence, plus the possibility of towing.
Student parking is at a premium on the McLean High School campus, although future redistricting may ease the crunch. A parking permit for students costs $200 per school year.
