Parking Reform Made Easy

Abstract

Parking Reform Made Easy RICHARD WILLSON P arking requirements in zoning ordinances create one of the most wasteful elements of transportation and land use systems: unoccupied parking spaces. Each space requires over 300 square feet of valuable land or building area, yet many sit empty. Minimum parking requirements at shopping malls, for example, often lead to sprawling developments surrounded by large, underused parking lots. Spaces for workplaces may be well-used during the day but remain unoccupied in the evening because they are not shared with other land uses. Sometimes, the parking required is greater than the amount of parking ever used. Parking is overbuilt and underutilized for two reasons: 1) zoning requires an excessive parking supply, and 2) it prevents efficient sharing of parking among different land uses. Both reasons reflect a legacy of single-use zoning and an automobile-first approach to planning. Minimum parking requirements prevent private developers from responding to market conditions, and lessen developers’ interest in sharing parking or developing sites that are accessible without driving. Planners sometimes claim that developers would build the same amount of parking regardless of regulations, but if that’s true, then why impose minimum parking requirements in the first place? Parking requirements should be framed as a means of providing access, not an end. Parking requirements are only one of several ways to ensure storage for private automobiles. Private auto transportation, in turn, is only one of several ways to provide access. To carry out parking reform, we must counteract the decades-old practice of thinking about access in terms of roadways and parking. In my recent book, Parking Reform Made Easy, I examine the origins of parking requirements, the impediments to change, and how we can reform these antiquated laws. ➢ Richard Willson is Professor and Chair of Urban and Regional Planning at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners (rwwillson@csupomona.edu). A C C E S S NUMBER 43, FALL 2013