L.A. Times Editorial Board Supports Legislation To Eliminate Parking Requirements

The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board published support for a new approach to planning and development in Southern California that prioritizes people over cars. Specifically, the editorial supports the elimination of parking requirements, as proposed in two bills under consideration by the California State Legislature, AB 2097 and SB 1067.

Jurisdictions throughout Los Angeles County, a symbol of automobile dependency and car-centric planning, have spent decades building more parking than anything else. According to the editorial, “In Los Angeles County, there are more than 19 million parking spaces, almost two per resident, including children, according to a 2015 analysis. The county has dedicated more space to the storage of cars than it has lane miles of streets and roads.

The article also includes a description of each of the bills. AB 2097 “would eliminate parking requirements for commercial projects and residential developments with 40 or fewer units that were within a half mile of a major transit stop,” for example.

The second bill, SB 1067, is authored by Senate Appropriations Committee chair, Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge), who killed parking reform legislation, AB 1401, from last year’s legislative session. Portantino took the fury from transit and housing advocates in response to that decision to heart, according to the editorial, and has now proposed a bill that “would prohibit cities from imposing parking requirements on housing developments within a half-mile of a major transit stop if the project includes 20% affordable housing or the developer can show the project wouldn’t negatively affect parking in the area or achieving the localities’ affordable housing development targets.”

According to the assessment of the editorial, AB 2097 is a more ambitious reform. “[SB 1067] gives cities more discretion to maintain parking requirements than [AB 2097’s] approach.” Portantino’s bill also would not apply to commercial buildings.