Richmond Repeals Parking Minimums, Encourages Off-Street Parking and Transit

Richmond, Virginia joined the growing list of cities to repeal parking minimums as one strategy for making housing more affordable and less costly to build, reports Elizabeth McGowan in Next City.

The move was, surprisingly, approved unanimously by the city’s Planning Commission and city council. City Councilor Andreas Addison, who has been a staunch supporter of repealing parking requirements, points out that there is plenty of parking space in the city, it’s just often designated for one single use, making it obsolete the rest of the time. “When that data was presented, I realized we don’t have a parking problem,” said Addison, “We have a lack-of-access-to-parking problem.” 

Addison “envisions the new measure will ‘reinvent paved space’ by introducing the concept of shared parking in off-street lots. Before, those spaces could only be used for the particular purpose laid out in the zoning code.”

Meanwhile, the  Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC) is still offering free rides on its buses and opened a high-capacity bus rapid transit line five years ago. “Addison is hopeful Richmond’s decision to scale back on parking lots can be a model for other Virginia cities intent on reshaping how people move around.”