Tampa Working to Reduce Downtown Parking

A survey of land use in downtown Tampa, Florida reveals that one-third of the area is taken up by parking, a finding echoed in a recent similar study of Salt Lake City. Meanwhile, 6,000 of 24,000 downtown parking spaces went unused during peak hours, reports Kate Oberdorfer in Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.

According to the article, “Since 2020, Tampa City Council has approved over 100 rezonings where the number of parking spots was waived below what the code required. Last year, the city controversially slashed free parking in Ybor City by 26%. Council has also approved amendments to the downtown zoning code and is working with the Mobility Department and Parking Division to draft a Parking Master Plan to address the parking issue.”

Neighboring St. Petersburg gives up 24 percent of its downtown land to parking, but the city’s Transportation and Parking Management Director, Evan Mory, says “the Sunshine City is softly and systemically reducing the number of surface parking lots; replacing these lots with structured parking as well as re-purposing the land for more people-friendly spaces.”

But Mory also added that “surface parking lots are good place holders; they’re consistent income for the city and they keep property taxes down. Until the city can figure out how to better develop the lots, surface parking isn’t such a terrible use of the land.”