North Texas Daily

Olivia Sylvain / Staff Writer

On Sept. 16, Denton City Council approved an ordinance to place permanent “no parking” signs in the Denia neighborhood just east of Apogee Stadium.

Residents began addressing the issue of increased traffic and noise near their homes when the plan for the stadium was first announced, according to city traffic engineer Bud Vokoun. He said residents became concerned as soon as UNT announced the stadium.

As time progressed, stadium patrons began to park in the neighborhood during football games and other events. Highland Park Road, which runs along the border of the neighborhood and intersects with North Texas Blvd, has become a major area for game-day parking. The city began placing temporary fold-up signs along Highland Park on event days after the ordinance’s passage, and permanent signs will be up by the end of October.

President of the Denia area community group John Weber said the neighborhood has been at odds with UNT for a long time. He said that initially, Mean Green fans were the biggest problem, but over time, non-UNT functions at Apogee became the worst.

“Now most of the problems come from non-UNT functions, like high school games. UNT does not police high school games, concerts or other functions, which has created major traffic problems,” he said. “The Denia neighborhood has had a rocky relationship with UNT athletics for several years. Originally, Athletics planned to route traffic through our neighborhood as Bonnie Brae couldn’t handle the traffic. After a long battle, Athletics put in the two entrances of the feeder and [North Texas Boulevard].”

Denton police Lt. David Hildebrand was head of assisting the residents in getting the permanent no-parking signs. He presented the plan to city council on Sept. 8.

“For the past three years since the Apogee opened, we have had issues with people parking along these streets,” Hildebrand said.

The city’s Traffic Safety Commission was also involved in recommending the placement of the permanent signs. Street superintendent Keith Gabbard said the neighborhood association was very involved with the process as well.

“The Denia neighborhood has wanted this since the stadium went up,” Gabbard said. “They were concerned about traffic and brought this up as soon as they noticed the issue.”