Asheville reconsiders parking minimums as surface parking eats up over a third of downtown real estate

Asheville, North Carolina is weighing a proposal to eliminate minimum parking requirements, reports Dan DeWitt in Asheville Watchdog. A bill in the state's General Assembly would also bar cities from enacting parking requirements in most areas, effectively rendering the proposed city ordinance moot.

According to DeWitt, "The French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization estimates 39 percent of the land in downtown Asheville is devoted to surface lots. That’s a higher percentage than in all but three of the 102 cities mapped by the national nonprofit Parking Reform Network." Now, Asheville is starting a multi-year overhaul of its 1997 Unified Development Ordinance, which could include changes to parking minimums and minimum lot sizes. Removing parking requirements is one of three "interim" amendments to the UDO that were scheduled for a city council vote this month, but delayed until July. 

According to Stephanie Monson Dahl, the director of the city’s Planning and Urban Design Department, "The proposed amendments to city rules addressing parking, duplexes and accessory dwelling units will come back to the planning commission as separate items at its July 1 meeting."