The Champaign City Council will discuss zoning changes to Green Street and the possible removal of parking from White Street at Tuesday’s study session at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers.

The zoning proposal would accommodate businesses instead of the parking spaces and large commercial buildings currently occupying the space between Third and Wright streets.

“We had a plan in ’06 called the University District Streetscape Action Plan to update Green Street,” said Zeba Aziz, planner II for the City of Champaign. “This section of Green Street is so close to the University and students, and it has a bigger opportunity and potential.”

Depending on the direction taken by the city council, planners will move forward to draft a proposal for the project.

“The zoning change would make development on the West side to match the East side, the 500 and 600 blocks of Green,” Aziz said. “The future development helps to move toward a more pedestrian friendly, urban, dense and student-friendly street that it has the potential to be.”

Marci Dodds, Dist. 4, said that the proposed change would be good for the campus community.

“The entrance to campus would be better looking,” she said. “The whole corridor would be consistent and would link campus to the rest of town.”

The council will also discuss a proposal to remove parking on White Street between Fourth and First streets.

The proposal comes in response to changes in the Mass Transit District (MTD) bus routes, which caused an increase in bus frequency along White Street.

“There used to be one bus every 15 minutes or so, but now there is a bus every five minutes,” said Rob Kowalski, assistant planning director for the city of Champaign. “The MTD is asking the city to remove on-street permit parking on White Street.”

The city already removed on-street parking on White between Wright and Fourth streets, Kowalski said.

“With parking on that one side of the street, it is impossible for two buses to pass,” he said. “This was not an issue when the bus frequency wasn’t as high as it is now.”

Kowalski said buses will use Fourth Street until construction on the drainage basins on Second Street, the Boneyard Second Street Detention Project, is completed. Since buses are using this route, some parking remains on White between Fourth and Second streets without affecting the bus routes.

“There is a financial implication to removing parking,” Kowalski said. “We get revenue from the permits people buy to park there, so we would not be getting that revenue.”

Dodds said she has questions about parking on White Street that she will bring up during the study session.

“The affect on students will be a real consideration,” Dodds said. “The memo says that most apartments on White Street have parking for their tenants, but my question is what about visitors and friends?”