The builder is relying on demand for lower-cost, transit-oriented housing units for residents who don’t own private cars, opting to provide only seven parking spaces for a 37-unit building.

A development planned for downtown Fresno will include less parking than would normally be expected, following the recent trend to reduce the amount of parking mandated and built into new construction. As Danielle Bergstrom reports for Fresnoland, the project is remarkable even for Fresno, where parking requirements are lax but many developers fear that potential residents will lose interest without parking included with their units.
“Pro-housing activists have long pushed for cities to reduce or eliminate parking requirements on housing projects near transit or in walking distance to major amenities for the added cost it can bring to a project, making some infeasible to finance.” Now, a new state law bars cities from enforcing parking requirements near transit stations, letting developers choose how much parking to build based on their own estimates of market conditions.
“The Fresno Planning Commission approved a 37-unit housing development on Broadway and Stanislaus streets – sandwiched between the Mayflower Lofts and Kepler School’s recess yard – with just seven parking spaces,” Bergstrom writes. The decision was appealed by a neighboring property owner who cited concerns about added pressure on local street parking.
FULL STORY: New downtown Fresno housing development tests parking expectations

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

Montreal Mall to Become 6,000 Housing Units
Place Versailles will be transformed into a mixed-use complex over the next 25 years.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Santa Clara County Dedicates Over $28M to Affordable Housing
The county is funding over 600 new affordable housing units via revenue from a 2016 bond measure.

Why a Failed ‘Smart City’ Is Still Relevant
A Google-backed proposal to turn an underused section of Toronto waterfront into a tech hub holds relevant lessons about privacy and data.

When Sears Pioneered Modular Housing
Kit homes sold in catalogs like Sears and Montgomery Ward made homeownership affordable for midcentury Americans.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
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Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
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