Twin Cities Parking Reform Shows Promising Results

In an article originally published in Minnesota Reformer and reposted on Next City, Zak Yudhishthu outlines the Twin Cities’ success with parking reform.

Since St. Paul and Minneapolis voted to eliminate minimum parking requirements from their zoning codes, Minneapolis has seen less parking built and increased housing affordability. “The reduction in average parking spot per unit obscures an equally remarkable shift in the whole distribution of parking-unit ratios in Minneapolis. While some apartment developers have still opted to build relatively high quantities of parking, there’s been a rise in apartments with very little parking, or even none at all.”

The same type of data isn’t available for St. Paul, but anecdotal evidence shows that developers are taking advantage of the new rules to reduce the number of parking spots they build. In one case, a developer changed the design of a building from 91 housing units and 88 parking spots to 114 housing units and 82 parking spots. “More homes, less parking—and no need for a parking variance.”

While these results are far from radical, they indicate a positive trend that “reflect[s] a smart change that will improve the places that we live in,” Yudhishthu writes.