Homecoming will bring thousands of Huskie fans, friends and family to DeKalb, but parking restrictions may leave them looking for places to park.

Chad McNett, DeKalb community relations officer, said Thursday through Monday, parking in the Eco Park area near Fotis Drive and Ridge Drive will be banned from 2 to 6 a.m. Parking on Greenbrier Road will be completely banned.

“[On Greenbrier] is where we have the biggest number of problems with crowds and traffic control,” McNett said. “It can be an absolute mess with such an influx of people standing around with nowhere to go.”

James Huizenga, Eco Park property manager, said residents have first priority on parking this weekend.

“I don’t want to prohibit guests, but I do want to make sure residents always have a spot to park,” Huizenga said. “We do tow two hours before, during and two hours after home games.”

Huizenga said Eco Park has 20 guest passes available, and residents can acquire one by visiting the Eco Park office during normal business hours. The passes are free and are available one per resident.

Junior non-traditional student Roberta Schwarz expects the temporary ban to be inconvenient.

“I am a college student and am 57 years old,” Schwarz said. “I think this bothers me more than your typical college student. I work for a company here in town and go to school full-time, and now I’m being told I can’t park in front of my building.”

McNett said due to the amount of pedestrian and vehicle traffic, the parking bans present a slight problem to the community, but are necessary in maintaining public safety.

“We want to avoid the streets being clogged with cars,” McNett said. “We do realize it’s a little bit of an inconvenience, but the inconvenience is outweighed by the potential for safety issues.”

The alternatives are limited, said McNett, but parking on Normal, Edgebrook and Kimberly roads will be unaffected, as parking is normally only available on one side of these streets.

McNett said though they are a bit further away from campus, there are free parking lots available in the downtown area, as well as the visitor’s parking lot on Carroll Road and in the parking garage off of Lincoln Highway, across from the new police station.