Agenda - Planning Commission - 03/02/2006

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Parking Requirements or Benefit Districts? Comparing Results Results Parking Benefit Cdtefion requirements districts Air quality Worse getter Climate change Faster Slower I[nergy consumption Higher Lower Price of housing Higher Lower Price of parkin~ Lower Higher Public revenue Less Mare Public transportation Worse getter Tra~c congestion Worse Better Urban design Worse Better Urban sprawl Faster Slower Walking environment Worse getter Water quality Worse Better street parking, or (2) charge market prices for curb parking and use the revenue to pay for local pubilc services. transit. The nation will import fewer cars and [ess fuel Because motofists will pay for pa'rking directly, no one will be forced to pay for it indirectly. Curb parking revenue will pay for neighborhood public investments. TO heip the mayor choose, you might sug- gest criteria for comparing the ~vo policies, and the table above shows :2 that would be relevant. Parking benefit districts excel on ~t of these: air quality, climate change. energy consumption, housing prices, public revenue, public transportation, traffic con- With parking benefit districts, planners wi[[ more often work in partnership with neighborhoods. city will be designed and built around ~Tee parking--at the expense of many other public goals. The nation will import more cars and ~uet. The cost of required parking will be a hid- den tax eve,/one must pay through hi§fief prices for everything they buy, even if they do not own a car. The city will earn no curb park- ing revenue Ia pay for public inves[ment5. Market prices for curb parking. Market prices for curb parking wii[ "individualize" the cost of parking and give everyone an incentive to economize in using it. This pol- icy will reveal the cost of parking and allow private choices to determine the off-street parking supo[y. Market prices will create a few curb vacancies so that drivers can always find a place to park near their desti- nations. The price of parking will restrain the demand for cars and will therefore reduce ener§y consumption, traffic conges- tion. and air pollution. More people witl travel ~y foot, bicycle, carpool, and public gestion, urban design, urban sprawl, walk- ing environment, and water quafity.~? A NEW STYLI[ OF PLANNING Parking benefit districts will require a new style of urPan planning. Planners now devote considerable effort to enforcing the parking requirements for new buildings or for changes in the use of existing bui[din§s. AS a result, they 5pond much of their time dealing with developers. With parking benefit districts, with neighborhoods, helping them decide how to manage curb parking and how to focusing on curb parking, city planners wig[ University of Washington professor Of urban have become a void in the mind of city plan- separate from city ptanning and, accordingly, streets separate rather than [ink the different pieces of the ci~.'~s The revenue from curb parking will refocus planners' attention on streets and neighborhoods. Because neighborhoods will have real money to spend and real choices to make, the residents' preferences will acpuire new weight and real community participation will be necessa~/, Concentrating planners' attention on the task of improving older neighborhoods may well be one of the new parking paradigm's most ~mpottant benefits. A collection of materfais ~rom communi- ties with parking benefit districts is avadaPle to Zoning Practice subscribers by contactin~ Michael Davidson, editor. Zoning Practice. at the American Planning Association, tea South Michigan Avenue, Suite t6oo, Chi- ca§o, IL 6o6o3, or by sending an e-mail to mdavidson@plan ning.or~.