With Innovative Plan, L.A. Says Adios to Parking Requirements

James Brasuell reports on the hubbub over the Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan [PDF], a document that lays out the path for transforming an underutilized industrial area north of Downtown into "a cluster of mixed-use pedestrian oriented and aesthetically pleasing neighborhoods."

"Most notable among the plan's ballyhooed innovations: a complete lack of parking requirements--neither minimums nor maximums," says Brasuell. "Just so we're perfectly clear: this is the first plan of any kind in the city of Los Angeles that does not include parking requirements."

"City Planner Claire Bowin told Curbed today that the lack of parking requirements will allow developers to 'minimize the amount of parking for specific projects,' given the neighborhood's proximity to transit, the changing culture of Los Angeles, and the declining need for parking... The effect, says Bowin, will be to 'let the market decide' how much parking is needed and where."

The plan for the four new zoning districts - Urban Village, Urban Center, Urban Innovation, and Greenway - seeks to retain light industrial uses in the area, while adding residential (with incentivized affordable housing), commercial, and retail uses. For the purposes of the plan's EIR, development in the area has been projected to attract more than 25,000 additional residents by 2035.