A rise in permit applications after recent changes to parking requirements shows how parking mandates stifle new residential development and raise the cost of housing.
Minimum parking requirements have, for decades, hampered residential development in New York City, argues Sophia Lebowitz in Streetsblog NYC. “The average cost of building an underground parking space in the city is $67,500, according to the planning department. The city is filled with examples of developers under-building in order not to have to build costly parking.”
Even in neighborhoods zoned to encourage apartments, requirements to provide one parking spot per unit have prevented the development of more missing middle housing, which is unfeasible on many smaller lots. “A 2022 report from the Regional Plan Association found that removing parking mandates for affordable housing resulted in 36-percent more affordable units annually in the transit zone between 2016 and 2020.”
Now, the city’s new City of Yes zoning reform package could change that. “One of the main goals of City of Yes is to re-introduce the ‘missing middle’ housing to R1-R5 districts by allowing bigger buildings near transit, mixed use town-center zoning, accessory dwelling units, and getting rid of parking mandates.”
Read the full story: City of Yes: Parking Mandates Have Shaped New York … For Worse
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The zoning reform package dubbed ‘City of Yes’ will likely yield uneven results, with many of the lowest-density neighborhoods exempted from new regulations.
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The outgoing mayor claims credit for hundreds of thousands of new homes. The truth is more complicated.
Lawsuit Aims to Stop NYC’s ‘City of Yes’ Zoning Reforms
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
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Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment
The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.
Satanic place names
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California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO resigns after $600,000 scandal
Under Ian Choudri, the authority used taxpayer dollars to fund first class flights and trips to nightclubs.
Want to study the Missouri River? Soon, you may need unanimous approval from 10 states
Legislation would require 10 governors’ permission to study or build projects moving water outside the basin.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority