Fairfax to Consider 'Parking Reimagined' Amendment to Increase Accessible Spaces

“On the heels of new regulations that reduced parking ratios in some zoning areas, Fairfax County officials are recommending that the Board of Supervisors compensate by increasing parking requirements for accessible spaces,” according to an article in Gazette Leader. Writer Brian Trompeter reports that, shortly after new “Parking Reimagined” regulations were adopted in 2023, the board ordered county staff to work with stakeholders, Disability Services Board, and developers to ensure the new rules were in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA requires the preservation of “a stable amount” of accessible parking even if general parking is reduced.

Parking Reimagined regulations, which went into effect in January, imposed a tiered structure for determining parking minimum requirements, mostly cutting them back in mixed-use areas near transit. Disability advocates have expressed concern that reduction in parking overall will lead to not only fewer but also less accessible spaces in terms of design; for example, “motorists sometimes park or crowd upon ‘hatched’ areas buffering accessible spaces,” which blocks necessary room for wheelchair ramps or lifts. After several months of research county staff have “recommended increasing the ratio for accessible spaces from 1-to-25 under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code to 1-to-15,” writes Trompeter, and hope to have a zoning ordinance amendment drafted by 2025.

Fairfax County’s move to amend its recently passed parking reform regulations is noteworthy not just because it will ensure accessibility for their local disability community but also because they recognized a potential mistake and course corrected by employing or engaging directly with disabled people — something disability and Universal advocates say does not happen enough. Steven Wright, a planner, writer and educator in Universal Design, stated as much in a Streetsblog USA article outlining three myths about what parking reform could mean for disability challenges:

“As much as I love and admire the planning industry, I think it’s doing a horrible job of seeking input from people with disabilities," he adds. “If you don’t have people with disabilities working on your staff, you’re going to presume a lot of things [about how they live and move] that just aren’t true,” Wright said.