Downtown Raleigh Debates Relaxing Parking Requirements

"Downtown [Raliegh] offers 42,000 spaces -- more than one apiece for every worker -- but the daily visitor still thinks it's a chore."

"Raleigh, though, would like to relax its parking rules. The City Council today will consider scrapping the rules that require developers to create one spot per residential unit they build. New offices could get a break, too.

The idea is to remove any barrier to building a more lively downtown, letting the builders control whether and when they need parking."

While some on the council worry about creating new parking problems, some developers question whether the absence of parking requirements will result in less parking being built.

" 'We are not a mass transit urban community by any stretch of the imagination,' said Dicky Walia, principal in the Soleil Group. 'People travel by cars and if you do not have parking, you are going to have to come down on rates and your tenants are going to have so many other choices.' "