Opinion: Cities Must Take Action on Blighted Downtown Parking Lots

In an opinion piece in The Washington Post, Travis Meier calls on cities to enact policies that promote the redevelopment of the many underused or vacant surface parking lots that occupy, on average, one-quarter of land in American city centers. “Our nation’s downtowns are full of these neglected spaces — surface lots of crumbling asphalt and weeds, emblematic of absentee property owners and a disregard for the public good. Other lots, not entirely abandoned, are often underused and unkept.”

According to Meier, “City centers need density and connection; surface parking lots destroy both.” When it comes to local tax revenue, surface parking lots are also a losing proposition for cities, limiting tax revenue and slowing down the development process. “The lot is assessed at a low rate, so corporations and landowners sit on their cheap land, waiting years for a top-dollar bidder as downtown real estate gets more expensive.”

One proposal that would spur more development of vacant parking lots is a land value tax, which assesses properties based on potential value, thus eliminating the incentive for owners to sit on the land. “City leaders should also encourage land sales by actively seeking buyers, offering financial incentives and reorienting preexisting blight programs.”