RICHMOND, Va. -- Richmond city leaders are hoping to do away with mandatory parking spaces for new developments in an effort to promote public transit and sustainability. While urban planning experts have shown support for the move, some residents questioned if the city is ready to take that step just yet.
Fan District resident John Dolan lives in a neighborhood where we can walk to many destinations, but since he commutes out of the city for work, he's satisfied with the parking situation at his apartment complex. He pays $75 per month for a guaranteed spot off the street.
“I realized that it was going to be a struggle to find parking and find a spot every day, so I just didn't want to have to deal with that," Dolan said. "We have to have cars. It's just a necessary evil."
The current city code requires businesses and multi-family housing, like Dolan's apartment, to provide a minimum number of off-street parking spaces for customers and residents, but that could change.
Last year, the city council passed a resolution declaring a necessity to amend the zoning ordinance to eliminate parking minimums and now a community engagement process is underway as the planning department works on the ordinance.
“The reality is this: parking minimums are going to go away. They are. They need to. That's the best thing for the environment. It's the best thing for our city," said 9th District Councilman Mike Jones, who represents parts of the Southside.
Jones listed several reasons why he supported the measure, adding his views on this topic have shifted over the year as the conversation has played out:
- Reducing costs for businesses
- Improving housing affordability and availability
- Promoting the use of public transit and walkability
- Getting better use out of lots rather than empty asphalt
“Density is not the death of a city. It begins to challenge our views on mobility, challenges our views on transportation and how we get around," Jones said.
Jimmy Chen, Chair of Urban Regional Studies at VCU, echoed similar sentiments for supporting the change, calling the current requirements "outdated."
“I think it makes a lot of sense to get rid of this rigid mandate," Chen said.
However, Chen said instead of completely eliminating minimums, the ordinance should be edited to be more flexible depending on market demand.
"If there's no demand for parking, you definitely cannot force people to have minimums, but if you still need parking, a developer can still provide some parking space," Chen said.
He added people who travel into the city from the surrounding counties, where the bus network is more limited, will continue to rely on parking.
"In those outlying areas, these people will continue driving in the foreseeable future, but downtown, we do have a more developed transit system," Chen said. "But some mobility problems continue to exist in this region."
Dolan also questioned if public transit and pedestrian infrastructure could support a less auto-centric approach.
"I think until public transportation improves enough to support walkability and people getting from their residence to restaurants or wherever they need to go, we need cars," Dolan said.
But the city's planning director Kevin Vonck said eliminating minimums likely won't stop developers from providing parking spaces. Instead, it "removes a blanket formula from the city."
"If somebody is locating to the downtown core, or one of our more walkable neighborhoods, or somewhere around the (GRTC) Pulse corridor, or somewhere close to bike lanes, they may say, 'Alright, there's going to be a percentage of our residents or our clients who are probably going to reach us by not using a car, and so we may be able to reduce the number of spaces that we provide.' But then there are also some areas of the city that don't have access to transit, bike lanes, or sidewalks and their clientele or residents are most likely going to have a car, and so they'll provide spaces for it," Vonck said.
Vonck said the council's resolution set the framework to eliminate minimums, but some pieces of it could still remain depending on the engagement process.
"In different districts, it may be appropriate still to retain some standards for certain types of uses," Vonck said.
The city also plans to continue managing and monitoring the availability of street parking and residential parking to determine if new developments will increase the number of cars in certain areas.
"One of the things that we'll be looking at is, what is the availability? And what's the usage of on-street spaces throughout various neighborhoods? We have a number of districts in which it's required to have parking permits for residents and guests and others where we don't," Vonck said.
Meanwhile, Jones said some people might be inconvenienced by a potential change, but it's necessary in order for Richmond to compete with other cities that have moved away from auto-centric infrastructure.
“For all those car-loving individuals, there's going to be a little bit of pain, but we'll all get through this together," Jones said.
The City of Richmond is hosting two telephone town halls next week for the community to give public input on zoning changes including parking requirements:
- Tuesday, August 16th, 6:00PM*
- Wednesday, August 17th, 12:00PM*
*Registration link for Telephone Town Halls available here.
