Jenny Wright’s Post

Cities from coast to coast are tossing out the rules for how many off-street parking spaces are needed for apartments and businesses, as NPR’s Laurel Wamsley reports. In addition to parking structures being expensive to build and prone to trapping heat, they also create sprawl and make neighborhoods make less walkable, experts say. In removing parking minimums, cities hope to end up with better public transit, more affordable housing, and walkable neighborhoods. So far, more than 50 cities and towns have thrown out their parking minimums — from Austin and San Jose, to Gainesville, Fla. and Anchorage, Alaska. But it hasn’t been without criticism. Read more here:

Interesting article.

There is nothing so stable as change – Bob Dylan. 🅿Eliminating parking minimums is a significant shift in cities across the US. More than 50 big cities and counting. This growing trend encourages alternative transportation modes, improves housing affordability, and boosts walkability, paving the way for a more sustainable and accessible urban future. 👉But what does this mean for existing parking facilities? 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒! A forward-thinking approach to parking infrastructure will shape the future of the industry. 🚗Embrace innovation in your parking facilities. Discover how to 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 and 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞-𝐛𝐲-𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐬. Visit Products & Services https://lnkd.in/eEUubR6t or email us at info.us@tkhsecurity.com #ParkingGuidance #Parking #SmartGarage #ParkingSolutions #SmartParking

Across the U.S., over 50 cities, including Anchorage, San Jose, and Gainesville, have eliminated parking minimums, recognizing their arbitrary nature and detrimental impact on urban development. Tony Jordan, President of the Parking Reform Network, criticizes these rules for their lack of rationale, noting their significant consequences like increased urban sprawl, environmental harm, and inflated housing costs. In contrast, Austin's recent move to remove parking mandates, led by Council member Zo Qadri, reflects a trend towards letting the market and property owners determine appropriate parking levels, a decision supported by 62% of Americans according to a Pew survey. https://hubs.li/Q02f1sxr0

If they can do it in Austin – one of the most car-centric cities in the country – we can do it here too. Every neighborhood starts with an intention. In Baton Rouge, and the majority of cities around the country, the intention has historically been to develop commercial corridors and car-dependent destinations – hence, stringent parking minimums that require developers to spend resources servicing cars over people. In order to plan for vibrant, pedestrian-safe neighborhoods, we have to do something about these outdated regulations. In implementing the Government Street road diet, we saw that by taking away some road and parking space, the corridor was actually able to welcome more customers, cyclists, walkers, and others who add to the bustling street life. Current zoning rules limit our ability to plan for the kind of places where people actually want to visit, live, and start businesses. City councils across the country are realizing this, and taking steps to enact zoning measures that get rid of parking minimums. I'm glad to see it! The next time the subject of parking comes up in your community, remember: if we want walkable places, we can’t over-prescribe for parking space.  #parking #walkability #urbandesign

Austin proposes scrapping parking minimums, aiming for less parking, more affordable housing, and walkable neighborhoods, despite resistance. Over 50 other cities have embraced this change, believing it enhances transit and housing, reducing sprawl and costs. https://lnkd.in/eqaSXRGZ #ParkingNormsRevamp #AffordableLiving #TransitPriority #UrbanPlanning #SustainableCities

Ask cities what affordable housing they care about, and they'll tell you "affordable housing for people, ya dummy! What kind of question is that?" Look at actual city laws, though, and you'll find that affordable housing for cars is much more important, and city policy gets far more extra parking built than affordable housing units. Over the last 75 years, "parking minimums" spread like wildfire, often copy/pasted from one city code to another. While they may ensure cheap housing (aka parking) for cars, they've destroyed our cities — making them unwalkable, more expensive and essentially requiring a car as a ticket to society. It's why there are 2 billion parking spots for 300 million cars in the US. The good news is … that's changing, and fast. From Anchorage to Austin, the massive policy failure that are costly parking mandates are quickly disappearing. I'm proud Parkade was the first corporate sponsor of the Parking Reform Network, and props to Tony Jordan for getting words into this great piece from NPR on the changes we're seeing.

As I re-listen to Joni Mitchell's opening line of Big Yellow Taxi, "They paved paradise, put up a parking lot," I can't help but think of the enormous amount of precious land I've seen covered in asphalt and concrete. Thankfully, forward-thinking municipalities are now giving us the chance to slow the paving down and reclaim pieces of our urban paradise. Austin and more than 50 other cities and towns have thrown out their government mandated parking spot minimums. These minimums, attached to almost every type of development, are often arbitrarily assigned, and have led to parking lot sprawl pretty much everywhere in the US. These sprawling areas of asphalt and concrete have made our cities hotter, less livable, less green, less walkable and less bikable, and less developable and affordable (yes, countless housing developments have been nixed because they couldn't meet parking minimums). By throwing out their parking spot minimums, these are cities displaying leadership and are broadcasting that it's time to be smarter (and more market driven) about how we use our urban real estate - that is, in the service of making our cities more livable for people, not more convenient for cars. Bravo, and may many more cities follow in their footsteps. #urbandevelopment #urbanmobility #urbanism #livablecities #austin

Great momentum in urban planning 🎉: 50+ US cities and towns have ditched their off-street parking minimums, from Austin, Texas, Anchorage, Alaska, San Jose, Calif., to Gainesville, Fla. This isn't just about reducing parking spaces. It's a visionary approach to prioritizing urban living, affordable housing, and efficient public transit over car dependency. It’s great to see Via's commitment to building tech-enabled, more efficient transit aligns perfectly with this new direction in city planning. Learn more from NPR: https://lnkd.in/eqaSXRGZ

All over the country, cities are getting rid of off-street parking requirements. How would that work in the Charleston region (and South Carolina for that matter)? What would it mean for development patterns, transit, property value, mobility and other characteristics of the built environment?