As many Chamblee students are likely aware, the parking lots at CHS cannot accommodate the 1,800 high schoolers currently enrolled. In fact, it cannot even accommodate one-sixth of them.
The school has 171 student parking spaces. During the 2021-2022 school year, dual enrollment students were allotted 64 parking spaces, seniors allotted 107 spaces, and juniors did not receive a single parking space.
With the lack of available spaces, Chamblee students look to other places to park. One of the most common places was Vanet Road, which lies in between Chamblee Middle School and North Dekalb Stadium. However, a recent decision by the City of Chamblee over winter break resulted in the banning of parking along Vanet, which displaced a large number of students.
It was on December 12, 2024, when Chamblee’s City Council discussed the issue of student parking along Vanet Road, ultimately deciding to implement the parking ban. This decision came as a result of petitioning by residents along Vanet Road. City Manager Kristen Gorham explained why these residents petitioned for such measures of traffic calming.
“Right now, on Vanet road during the school year, we have several students from Chamblee High School that park along that road, which has kind of created some challenges for the residents along Vanet, which is why they’ve petitioned the city, there are some other challenges associated with that that are not just blocking of the actual homes along the road, but also some concerns from the emergency vehicle standpoint, and also services like Relief and Limb. When that road is very congested, it’s very hard for vehicles to access that residential roadway,” said Gorham during a December 2024 public meeting.
When deciding whether or not to implement the parking ban, council members addressed how the ban would affect Chamblee’s students.
“There are going to be some tough situations that you know might impact some folks if we do decide to move forward with [the parking ban]. [Chamblee High] will have a Christmas gift for all these students when they get back from holiday break,” said District 4 Councilmember Elmer Veith.
Emma Lane (‘27) chose parking on Vanet over other options due to factors such as financial decisions.
“It’s free if you try to park,” she said. “Anywhere near the businesses, there’s a chance you could get towed or you’ll have to pay $100 a month just to park.”
Students who parked on Vanet Road are now left to fend for themselves regarding parking.
“If they’re gonna do something like that and just take away parking from students who need it and don’t want to pay $100 a month to park somewhere, they definitely need to give us another option,” said Lane.
The parking ban has caused a longer commute to school for some students.
“Since Vanet got blocked off, I’ve had to park super far away at the nearest available space in the neighborhood around Chamblee. I have to walk all that extra distance to Chamblee, so I have to get up even earlier than I used to to get to school,” said Noelle Lamarca (‘26).
However, new rules regarding parking can also affect others, particularly in this harsh weather.
“I drive my little sister to school…and she’d just sit in the car and wait for her school to start. But yesterday, I had to drop her off, and she just had to stand in the freezing cold, and then I had to go and park near the Chamblee Plaza area,” said Lane.
While some may argue that the transportation the school provides diminishes the need for parking, Lamarca expressed that the bus system does not accurately meet student needs.
“We could use public transportation but we need to get to extracurriculars. We can’t make school buses if we have a meeting after school, even a quick one. However, we need extracurriculars for college applications. Plus, the bus that I would ride is overcrowded. The last time I rode it in the morning, I had to sit four to a seat sometimes because they pick up high school and middle school students,” said Lamarca.
The most annoying part of this ordeal for many students was the timing of the email from Chamblee’s administration with an “explanation” of the situation.
“They sent out an email at 6:00 the night before Tuesday telling us we couldn’t park there. That really wasn’t enough time to come up with a plan to find an alternative,” said Beck Heaps (‘26).
However, at least one student had an omen of things to come.
“Some dude pulled me over after I parked one day [in December], and he got mad at me. He said that in January it’d be illegal to park there,” said Debesh Majumder (‘26).
Some Chamblee students who decided to move to nearby roads around Vanet find they will face the same challenges on Vanet Road again if a permanent solution is not made.
“[The decision] is inconvenient. They will just keep on pushing the same [rules] onto different roads and then there’ll be more complaints. I’m hoping for a more permanent solution,” said Travis Sun (‘26).
In April 2022, “No Parking” signs were erected along parts of Greenhill Drive in the nearby Huntley Hills neighborhood after neighbors there complained about CHS students parking along the street.
Students register for a precious campus parking space at the beginning of the school year, but that system does not always include all students who want to drive to and from school. Because of the requirement to attach your driver’s license to the parking registration form, several students were not eligible for a spot in Chamblee’s parking lot.
“I didn’t get my license until September, so I never got a parking pass. I couldn’t fill out the registration form because of that,” said Majumder.
A reasonable grievance among the displaced students was the fact that there was no communication between frequent parkers of the road and the city. No reason for the blocking of parking was shared with students.
“There were new parking signs up that hadn’t been there before, but they didn’t tell us why they went up or anything like that,” said Lane. “It’s not even like we’re just parking there to go hang out with our friends. We are doing it to further our education.”
It is evident that Chamblee residents are the source of complaints as there has been some conflict between residents and parking students.
“I had a Karen interaction. She chained off her driveway with a plastic chain and she ambushed me in my car, stopping me. … She was behind my car, clearly on the phone, my guess is with the police, rattling off my license plate number,” said Lamarca about an incident that occurred this month after she parked on a new street in the same neighborhood.
Students have begun to notice multiple police in the area to enforce the parking ban, making it clear that law enforcement is taking the ban seriously.
“I counted three [police cars]. Someone else counted seven cars. That’s a bit of overkill for a parking issue. Aren’t there better things they could be doing, a better allocation of officers?” said Lamarca.
Parking has always been a consistent issue at Chamblee, especially among students. Amid overcrowded lots and unclear regulations, few actions have been taken to address the daily hassle for Chamblee High School students so far. A compromise must be reached, not just for the residents and the county, but for students that are pursuing their education, their future.
“Both sides need to be better behaved,” said Lamarca. “We have about 1800 students, and three-fifths have the ability to drive, yet there are only 200 parking spots.”
