2007-08-31 TCOUNCIL-PARKING - Laserfiche WebLink

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We have a statement in our recommendation about why we disagree with very large parking requirements. And basically what happens is if you have excessive parking requirements, you create this huge parking lot.You end up with a sea of cars; you end up with a lot of impervious surfaces that increase drainage problems; and you create something that is basically a very unattractive environment. So in many cases the businesses can be left to decide. The parking standards should be a minimum. If the businesses want to put in more, they are always allowed to do that. But we don’t want to mandate excessive parking requirements. So that’s the presentation. If there are any questions -? WOODWARD: Mr. Yuen. GRAHAM: Commissioner Woodward? WOODWARD: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Where do these numbers come from? I mean, are there some standards for, other than just somebody thought these numbers up? YUEN: There are national standards. This is something, of course, that communities throughout the country deal with. And in the recommendation we do have an example of some of the national standards. Our standards for a commercial at one per 300 square feet are in the general range that you find throughout the country. You’ll find some places that employ more of a use by use control on parking. That’s another approach where you have one requirement for a retail store, another requirement for an office building. And we have some of that in our Code, but you’ll find some places where it’s much more specific than that. And then it does require a lot more administrative control over changes of use within a building. But what we’ve presented is based on national standards. And the national standards have a range; and what we’ve presented is within that range. GRAHAM: A follow-up? WOODWARD: Yeah, if I might follow up. I’ve spent a little time looking over some of the letters that we’ve gotten in opposition; and admittedly most of these people are from industry, so they have a little bit of an ax to grind. But several of their points I have to bring up because I kind of agree with them. One of them was, you know, “take paradise and put up a parking lot;” and the other one is “build it and they will come.” You know, the more parking spaces you build, the more you encourage people to use cars for transportation. You end up using up green space; and there is one article in here from an architect who specializes in greenhouse emissions that says that these new regulations would end up causing a 19 percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions, add to the amount of green land that would be required to compensate for that. So there are some realistic objections to this, and that’s why I asked you where the numbers came from. You know, if there is a rational basis for this, we’ll say, okay, you know, we’ve done this study and this is how many spots you have to have. Well, that’s one thing. But there are some realistic objections to it, and I think they are worth noting. YUEN: The objections that were made by, I think there were about three or four architects who wrote in.Generally I agree with those objections that there are big problems created with having too many parking spaces. And there is a lot of planning literature that says EXHIBIT E 3