Parking Mandates Have a New Victim: Daycare Centers

Minimum parking requirements are having a new, unexpected negative impact: limiting access to childcare.

As Catie Gould explains in an article for Sightline, parking requirements across the Cascadia region of the Pacific Northwest are making it “difficult or impossible to permit new daycares if the sites are unable to meet that arbitrary asphalt standard,” worsening an existing childcare shortage.

In Clark County, for example, there are three or more children under five for each slot available at a licensed childcare provider. According to Gould, “Sixty-three percent of Washington families live in a childcare desert, the sixth worst in the United States. The lack of access was estimated to cost $6.9 billion to Washington’s economy in 2023.”

Between state requirements of at least 75 square feet of outdoor play space per child and an average of 87 square feet of parking per child, Sightline estimates that a childcare center wanting to serve 50 children would need 8,100 square feet of outdoor space. “There simply aren’t many land parcels in Washington cities that have that surplus of space.”

According to Gould, cities that have reformed their parking regulations have seen a rise in new daycare openings. “Removing parking mandates won’t remove every obstacle to new childcare services, but it’s a no-cost solution that can make an immediate difference for families across Cascadia.”