Did you know that, on average, one parking space costs more than $20,000 to construct? A reasonable follow-up question would be, “if they’re so expensive to build, why is so much land dedicated to parking?” Well, friends, as much as I would love to blame the big bad developers for ruining our beautiful city with vast swaths of parking, we have to examine two contributing factors: outdated planning policies requiring developers to provide off-street parking and the uniquely American fascination with the personal vehicle.
Cars revolutionized how people travel, fulfilling the uniquely American promise of rugged individuality and independence. They allow drivers to go wherever, whenever, and with whomever they want. However, freedom and convenience are only possible if you have a place to park at the end of your journey. This phenomenon has forced cities to evolve around the car, rather than the people who live in them, consuming large amounts of space for motor vehicles, primarily when they aren’t in use.
Like many of the problems that American cities face now, we can trace the roots back to post-World War II-era planning policies, many of which are still in play. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of massive development, the booming growth of the suburbs, and enormous federal subsidies for freeways. This expansion led to worries that the significant number of new residents would make street parking impossible and contributed to the subordination of urban residents to the needs of cars. This fear resulted in “minimum parking requirements,” or zoning codes mandates requiring developers to supply off-street parking to prevent congestion at the curb. Decades later, parking requirements still exist all over the country. Take Norfolk, for example. With a few notable exceptions (downtown, near transit, or adaptive reuse), the zoning ordinance requires 1.75 parking spaces per constructed multi-family dwelling unit. If you’re a developer that wants to build a 6-unit apartment building (hello, Missing Middle Housing), that means you would also have to provide 11 off-street parking spaces. Not only does that take up nearly 1,600 square feet of valuable land, but it also increases the cost of construction by more than $200,000! These requirements encourage vehicle ownership, discourage density and infill development, and lead to unsustainable and unaffordable urban development patterns.
There are a few cities around the country that have introduced reforms, and results have been promising. Buffalo and Minneapolis have done away with parking requirements entirely, leaving the amount of parking to be provided up to the developer. San Diego and San Francisco have also scaled back their needs considerably. The result is more infill development of vacant urban land, as well as lowered rents. Not only are there more housing options available, but they are also more affordable. For example, rents for new studio apartments in Minneapolis have dropped by nearly $200 since the parking requirements were removed in 2018.
This article is not to say that parking needs to be removed entirely in cities. I realize that cars need to go somewhere. I do, however, believe that parking requirements should be a thing of the past. It’s important to remember that, first and foremost, cities are places meant for people, not cars. Urban land is not a renewable resource, and with a bit of vision and ratification from city leaders, perhaps we can utilize it in a more efficient, sustainable way.
Works Cited
https://www.planning.org/planning/2018/oct/peopleoverparking/
https://www.brookings.edu/research/parking-requirements-and-foundations-are-driving-up-the-cost-of multifamily-housing/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-30/where-eviction-risk-is-high-vaccination-rates-ar e-low
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/05/parking-drives-housing-prices/618910/ https://wginc.com/parking-outlook/
https://www.norfolkva.gov/norfolkzoningordinance/#Norfolk-ZO/5_1_Parking_Loading_and_Bicycle_Sta ndards.htm#_Toc502655756?TocPath=Article%25205%253A%2520Development%2520Standards%257C 5.1%2520Parking%252C%2520Loading%252C%2520and%2520Bicycle%2520Standards%257C_____2
Hank Morrison
Ellsworth, NFK
Hank Morrison moved to Norfolk in 2018 after completing his Master’s in Urban and Environmental Planning at UVA. He enjoys running on the ERT, Oregon Ducks football, and mid-century architecture. Hank lives in Ghent with his girlfriend and her blind dog, who is also named Paul.
