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It still won't cost a thing to visit the Chicago Botanic Garden.

But it will cost more to park.

Cook County Forest Preserve District commissioners voted Wednesday to increase the parking fee from $8.75 to $10. The increase will generate $100,000 for the Botanic Garden, allowing it to remain profitable, while keeping with what Commissioner Larry Suffredin called "an extremely modest increase."

Increasing district revenues was a recurring theme of Wednesday's meeting, with the introduction of a pilot program to set up Pace bus shelters in Rolling Meadows.

The Golf Road shelters, at Illinois 53 and Meadows Drive, are the first of what commissioners hope will be 22 possible sheltered waiting areas on district property. Commissioners discussed potential revenue opportunities, as well as using the shelters to advertise Park District programs.

Also approved Wednesday was a proposal to allow Forest Preserve District administrators to begin talks with cellular telephone companies about setting up towers within Forest Preserve boundaries.

District attorney Robert Kinchen said one tower could accommodate many companies, generating thousands in revenues.

Supt. Steve Bylina said they're studying ways "to attract additional revenues without violating the integrity of the landscape."

But critics, including Friends of the Parks, say the district is inching that way, after it approved allowing district-owned parcels in Westchester and River Grove to be used by those villages at no charge, establishing a pattern Commissioner Mike Quigley said is "short-sighted" and grants land use for something outside "what our core mission is."