Higher Parking Requirements Could Turn Chicago Into L.A.

The Zoning for Transportation Equity Coalition, a group of thirty transportation, environmental, and housing organizations in Chicago, released a study linking higher off-street parking requirements to higher auto ownership, more congestion, higher household spending on transportation, and more pollution.The study comes as the Mayor's Zoning Reform Commission is finalizing its recommendations to the city council on what the city's new zoning ordinance will say about parking requirements. Last summer, the commission made a preliminary recommendation to double parking requirements in some cases, requiring new townhouses to provide 2 parking spaces.The study points out that the average Chicago household owns only 1.06 cars, and that the proposed 2-space requirement is similar to requirements in sprawling cities like Los Angeles and Fort Worth."The report recommends shelving the two-for-one parking requirement, maintaining the existing one-for-one mandate and giving developers flexibility to build 'car light or car-free housing.'""Ald. William Banks (36th), chairman of the Zoning Reform Commission and the City Council's Zoning Committee, welcomed the recommendations and said the two-for-one requirement is 'not written in stone.'"