Dallas relies on a formula introduced in 1965 to determine parking requirements for new developments, but city planners are studying how to update the city's development code for the future.
In an article for D magazine, Matt Goodman provides background and details on an ongoing effort to update parking requirements in the city of Dallas, Texas—an auto-oriented built environment if ever there were one. The city's current parking requirements depend on a section of the development code created in 1965 and called 51A, according to Goodman.
The city has been studying an update to the city's parking requirements for two years—ever since a high profile incident detailed at the time by the Dallas Morning News. The local chapter of the American Institute of Architects is paying attention—recently bringing in a star witness to make the case for reforms—namely, Donald Shoup, author of the definitive book on parking reforms, The High Cost of Free Parking. Shoup told the group that Dallas has some of the more ridiculous parking requirements he's ever seen.
The question of how far the city of Dallas will go in implementing parking requirement reform is still an open question—but the source article linked below provides tons of background, examples, and options to inform the city's decision. Dallas will be a parking requirement reform model to watch—for better or worse—soon.
The city paused its study in August 2021, due to turnover at the city, but is expecting to write its staff recommendation in 2022.
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