Agenda - Planning Commission - 03/02/2006

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planners have identified these :~16 t'acto~s that SUbPOsedly predict peak parking demands {see web-based enhancements). Roar area is the most common basis for parking requirements, but this measure raises many questions about the definition of floor area: shou[d it be gross area, leasable area, sales area, or some other measure? For exam- pie, some cities requite parking for restau- rants in proportion to the dining area only, excluding the kitchen, while others require parking in proportion to the gross floor area, including the kitchen. (Gross floor area is the buiiding's total floor area, ~nc[uding toilers, basements, corridors, lobbies, stai~ays, ele- vators, and storage; it is measured from the bui[ding's outside walls.) Ifa city requires parking in proportion to dining area, a larger kitchen area does not require more parking T may reduce the number of workers hired.~ E~ut if the city requires two parking spaces per [,pop square feet, a firm cannot expand [ts plant without adding more parkin§ spaces, even if the exbansion adds no new employees. Requiring parking in proportion to floor area thus increases the cost of plant space and may reduce investment in ptant size, The factor chosen as the basis for a parking requirement therefore affects firms' hiring and investment decisions. Given these effects, how should planners require parking for manufacturing sites and for hundreds of other land uses? CONVERGENCE TO THE GOLDEN RULE The third steq in setting a parking require- ment is to specify the number af parking spaces required. The problem is that plan- their requirement by :993, and none had reduced it. Of the cities requiring more Ihan the mode in :975, 8o percent haq reduced their requirement by t993, and none had lng four spaces per [.pop square feet in [975 had changed their requirement by t993 (one up, one down). This convergence toward the mode doubled the percentage of cities requiring four spaces per t,aoo square feet (see web-based enhancements). ~mps and aisles) occupies at least 300 square feet. Requidn~ four pa~in~ spaces per spaces, so restaurants will tend to have larger kitchens. E~ut if the city requires parking in kitchen does require more parking spaces, so The definition of floor area for a parking the space inside buildings. can require parking for manufacturing sites Consider the effects of these two require- shift of maximum employment or (a) two parking spaces per :,pop square feet of floor out adding more parking spaces, Requiring parkin§ in proportion to employees thus increases the cost of employing labor and nors do not know how many parking spaces a drive-in restaurant Ior any other land use) needs. Most planners know little more about parking than does the average citizen. Copying another city's requirement is there- fore an obvious stratos/for anyone who needs to recommend a parking requirement for any land use. If cities do copy from one another, their parking requirements should parking requirements for office buildings in cz7 cities in Southern California to see parking consultant, conducted the first sur- vey in t975. I repeated the survey in t993 to mobe in :975, 65 percent had increased than to buildings. After copying each others' parking requirements for many years, most PARKING REQUIREMENTS AND REGIONAL CULTURE When surveying the parking requirements for office buildings in Southern California, I noticed that many cities require parking spaces for more land uses than the PAS found [n its national survey of parking requirements. I counted t~o additional [and uses witb parking requirements in Southern California--above and beyond the 562 reported by PAS (see web-based enhance- ments}. These additional land uses teU us something about Southern California's cul- ture and economy, and they confirm some cliches about the region. 150