"Too much, too little, just right...," Parking ratios can feel a lot like reciting lines from 'The Three Little Pigs'.
If you’ve thought about parking reform in recent years, chances are you’ve seen the buzz words “right-sizing”, “parking maximums”, and “Donald Shoup”. There are a lot of great ideas out there but identifying what to update or whether and when to start over with drastic changes, may seem like an impossible task. For starters, let’s consider how your off-street (and on-street) parking regulations can evolve to be development-friendly, support community goals, and integrate flexibility:
“This parking lot is just right”
Development-Friendly
Techniques to make your parking code more development-friendly:
- Address the aspects of your parking requirements that developers most often request variances from.
- Consider alternative requirements for older commercial areas where a lack of off-street parking means uses cannot get planning approval.
- Consider reducing minimum parking ratios to cut down on excess parking spaces. The cost of building parking for developers is high, therefore reducing parking space requirements incentivizes them to build and build only what is necessary for the market – it’s a win-win!
Support Community Goals
Ways your parking code can support community goals:
- Promote flexible parking regulations that support the creation and revitalization of walkable public gathering spaces. Dedicate space to people, not cars.
- Encourage other modes of transit by expanding your “parking” code to include bike parking.
- Encourage parking areas to do double-duty—update guidelines to further environmental goals. Encourage or incentivize the use of pervious pavement and landscape design (such as bioswales) to capture stormwater on-site.
Flexible & Responsive
How to make your parking code more flexible and responsive to demand fluctuations:
- Put existing parking spaces to their highest ‘round-the-clock use by adopting shared parking provisions that are not restricted to certain districts or uses.
- Offset space requirements based on proximity to public transit. This encourages development near transit and facilitates opportunities to sustain ridership.
- Focus parking requirements on anticipated demand, not hardship. Allow users to submit documentation of anticipated daily demand to make their case for reduced parking requirements.
“There are no magic ratios”
The Bottom Line
Many codes are restrictive and require more parking than uses typically need. The high cost of constructing parking is generally enough to discourage the construction of excess. There are no magic ratios but setting policies that support community goals, integrate flexibility, and working with the business community to address changing needs are important to respond nimbly to the evolution in demand.