UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio — Several students at Upper Arlington High School came home with a warning on their first day of school Wednesday afternoon.
The old Upper Arlington High School building is still being demolished to make room for a new parking lot.
Until then, students are left to find other, limited parking options.
Upper Arlington Schools said this time period was bound to be a difficult one for parking, but even so, 18 warnings were put on students’ cars.
Julia Brille, a high school senior, found one on hers Wednesday afternoon.
"I guess we're not supposed to park here,” she said. “The parking situation's just like, really difficult."
Upper Arlington Schools said they have been sending communication about the parking situation for the past few weeks, encouraging carpooling and sharing this map showing where students can and cannot park.
The city allows parking on only one side of several streets.
After a chaotic first day of school, neighbors feel for kids left to fend for themselves.
"They need to get the parking lot over there done so these kids have somewhere to park other than the street,” said Nancy Thorton, a grandmother and frequent visitor of her family in the area.
Others just want enforcement to stick around on these packed streets to keep people safe.
“You have traffic coming in one way. You have traffic going the other way. It's only wide enough for one car to get through at a time, plus you have pedestrians walking through the street,” said John Simpson, a neighbor.
Simpson said he and a few other neighbors have actually asked the city to keep the parking restrictions even after school hours, “because there are other events that happen at the high school that create the same kind of traffic nightmares."
But Brille does not think parking on either side of the road is a big issue.
“If people are at work or at school, I feel like it's not that big of a deal to have a little bit of congestion right here,” she said.
"I feel like the city should be a little bit more flexible about parking on the street.”
The City of Upper Arlington said they have been working with the schools for several weeks to prep for the parking challenges with UAHS students.
Their advice to students: Revisit information their school gave, carpool with friends and check parking signage to make sure they're parking on the right side of the street.