The study found that 71% of carless households in the United States pay for a parking space they don’t use.
Most cities in the United States require new homes and businesses to also provide parking spaces — a new study from UCLA has revealed the high financial impact of these requirements. The study found that 71% of carless households in the United States pay for a parking space they don’t use, and that required parking spaces can raise construction costs for small apartments by 38%.
“Underground parking costs $73,000 per space, on average, nationwide. At UCLA’s Weyburn Terrace, it added $35,000 to each apartment,” California YIMBY reports. “After Oakland required one parking space per apartment in 1961, new homes per project fell 36%, even though the zoning code still allowed the same density. The pattern holds in other cities. In New York, every 10% increase in parking requirements corresponds with a 6% drop in housing density.”
The study also found that when dense cities with public transit repealed parking mandates, cities built 40 to 70% less parking. Seattle’s repeal of the mandate saved the city “an estimated $537 million in construction spending on parking over five years,” California YIMBY writes.
Read the full story: Cars vs People: The Hard Trade-Off of Parking Mandates
The Slow Streets Reckoning
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Seattle Beats San Francisco to Plastic Straw and Utensil Ban
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Successful Ballot Measures Spell Doom for Transit Funding in Trump's 2018 Budget
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
‘Going backwards:’ Baltimore mayor, students rally against state's transit funding plan
Maryland's proposed six-year plan provides no funding for Baltimore’s BMORE bus program and reduces its road maintenance funding.
Detroit to transform waterfront with $2.2 billion investment
Developers will convert about 18 acres of unused parking lot space into civic spaces.
Less housing, wasted money: study reveals impact of city parking mandates
The study found that 71% of carless households in the United States pay for a parking space they don’t use.
Minnesota seeks to replace fraud-ridden Housing Stabilization Services with new program
Federal prosecutors have charged over a dozen people in fraud cases involving at least $26 million.
A multi-billion dollar problem is brewing under Oakland’s streets
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FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
One Hundred Miles
County of Mendocino
planning NEXT
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Montrose County
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority