Making the case for lifting parking mandates
Last week, Open Plans released our latest report, Parking Minimums are Parking Mandates: Lifting Parking Mandates in New York City. In this report, we outline what parking minimums are, how they’re harmful, and how to move forward. Ultimately, we find that the simplest and most impactful way to reduce the harms caused by parking mandates is for the Department of City Planning to fully eliminate parking mandates, citywide, in the upcoming City of Yes Zoning Text Amendment.
Parking mandates, sometimes called parking minimums or parking requirements, are a type of zoning rule that requires any new development (be it residential, commercial, or mixed use) to construct a certain number of parking spots. Dozens of cities across the country have already lifted this archaic requirement — but New York City hasn’t.
Instead, New York City has what’s called the Transit Zone, which is an area the city allows parking mandate exemptions for affordable and senior developments, generally close to transit. However, large swaths of the city still require parking for every new development, and market-rate developments within the Transit Zone still have to adhere to these rigid requirements.
The harms that parking mandates cause are well-documented. They hurt housing affordability, walkability, and accelerate the climate crisis. Research has shown that parking mandates can add 17% to a housing unit’s rent, an increase which disproportionately affects low-income renters. This is partially due to the steep cost of constructing parking; in New York City, it is estimated that creating an underground parking structure can cost as much as $150,000 per space. If parking were not required, these funds could instead be used to create more of the housing we sorely need. Further, our analysis shows that 1.2 parking spots is equivalent in cost to 1 studio apartment — nearly a 1-to-1 trade-off.
At-grade parking can deaden streetscapes, hinder local businesses, and make neighborhoods less walkable.
Parking mandates hurt a city’s walkability, livability, and the climate at-large in a number of ways. Parking garages that are on the first floor of a building create dead-zones and take up valuable space where vibrant community centers or retail could be. Traditional surface parking lots spread communities apart, making our neighborhoods more car-dependent. And even underground parking lots harm the space above them — due to the fact that there is a structure underneath, planting greenery above is difficult because many plants are not able to root in such shallow soil. Additionally, parking lots result in an increased heat island effect and flooding, which have disparate impacts for neighborhoods of color
Evidence from cities that have already lifted parking mandates show that it has positive impacts on housing supply and affordability, as well as walkability and livability. In cities like Los Angeles and San Diego, affordable housing production increased after parking mandates were lifted. And in Oregon, statewide reforms have made it so that 37,000 new homes (10% of the governor’s overall housing target) would be cheaper to build just in Portland’s suburbs. Even in New York City, the creation of the Transit Zone has resulted in an increase of affordable units by 36%, particularly those with the deepest affordability — we should expand these benefits to the entire city.
By lifting parking mandates, we are lifting the burdens they place on our city’s walkability — increased vehicle ownership and reductions in density. This would also incentivize residents to walk, bike, or take public transportation, which is necessary for the future of our city and our climate. Further, climate impacts of our self-perpetuated cycle of car ownership have disproportionate impacts on people of color; therefore, lifting parking mandates is a climate justice issue.
We find that, in order to rectify this, the Department of City Planning should lift parking mandates citywide in the City of Yes Zoning Text Amendment. To encourage this, the City Council should pass a resolution in support of this action, and the Mayor should publicly support this vital policy. Furthermore, at the state level, legislators should pass a bill which would exempt the lifting of parking mandates from environmental review, which is the most lengthy part of the zoning text amendment process. Passing existing legislation which would eliminate parking mandates statewide would circumvent this issue entirely.
In Parking Minimums are Parking Mandates: Lifting Parking Mandates in New York City, we discuss the above and more, including:
The positive impacts of lifting parking mandates on the economy and reducing administrative burden
A cost analysis on the cost of creating one parking spot versus one unit of housing
A full case study on how Buffalo, NY lifted parking mandates
A history of parking mandates in New York City
Browse Parking Minimums are Parking Mandates: Lifting Parking Mandates in New York City below: