Parking mandates (or minimums) are local zoning laws that require every new home or business to include a predetermined number of parking spots. These outdated requirements overprescribe far more parking than people actually need, causing cities to miss out on more home choices, at more affordable prices, in neighborhoods near jobs, schools, and green spaces. 

The resulting wasted space and added construction costs of parking are directly passed on to renters and home buyers — regardless of whether they will use it. Requiring excessive parking also frequently derails needed projects: the high cost of building parking spaces can consume too much of a local builder’s budget that they will abandon the project and, for property owners, the requirement of even a single parking spot can make building an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) impossible if their lot lacks the space. 

Removing these one-size-fits-all parking mandates restores flexibility, allowing homebuilders, property owners, and local businesses to determine the appropriate amount of parking for their specific needs. 

Parking reforms swap out pre-set quotas for right-size parking and avoid red tape, inflated costs, and wasteful overbuilt parking–ultimately fostering more homes of all shapes and sizes that working people can afford, and more small, locally-owned businesses, shops and restaurants in vibrant, connected neighborhoods. 

Strategy 1: Right-size parking requirements

Policy Goals to Achieve Strategy:

1. Transit-Oriented Development (TOD): Reducing or eliminating parking minimums for new residential and retail construction within a certain distance of frequent transit.
2. Parking Reduction Incentives for Affordable Housing: Reducing or eliminating parking requirements for affordable housing, small homes, and starter homes, including requirements around the number of parking spots as well as garage requirements.
3. Allocation of Curbside Parking Toward Parking Requirements: Allowing curbside parking to count toward parking minimums, enabling smaller businesses to avoid building additional off-street parking.
4. Downtown Areas: Reduce or eliminate parking requirements for new construction in dense downtown areas of cities, where there may already be sufficient parking to support new construction and where alternative forms of transit are most plentiful.
5. Parking Reduction for Adaptive Reuse: Reduce or eliminate parking requirements for adaptive reuse of existing properties. 
6. Flexible Parking Design Standards: Allowing tandem parking, stacked (mechanical) parking, or compact parking (smaller stalls) to enable new developments to meet parking requirements with a smaller footprint.

Strategy 2: Use existing parking more efficiently

Policy Goals to Achieve Strategy 

1. Shared Parking Arrangements: Increase the use of currently under-utilized commercial or large-residential parking by allowing owners of existing under-utilized parking to “share” their parking with new developments.
2. Unbundling Parking from Rent: Allowing or requiring residential developers to lease parking separately from housing units. 
3. Repurposing Existing Parking: Reallocating existing underutilized parking (surface parking lots or parking structures) to other residential or commercial uses. 
4. Parking Benefit Districts (PBD): Parking Benefit Districts are areas where a city charges drivers for parking on the street and spends some or all the resulting revenue to pay for added public services in the area. PBDs address curbside parking congestion by charging a market-rate price for curbside parking (the lowest price that will leave one or two open spaces on each block) and investing the revenue from metered parking back into the community. 
5. Reserving Curbside Space for Alternative Uses: Such as outdoor dining, increased visibility at crosswalks, micromobility, or online delivery unloading zones.

Strategy 3: Reduce vehicle miles driven 

Policy Goals to Achieve Strategy 

1. Transportation Demand Management (TDM): TDM policies are aimed at reducing car travel by encouraging alternatives like transit, biking, walking, or carpooling, using strategies like pricing (metered parking, congestion pricing), building out infrastructure (bike lanes, better sidewalks, public transit), providing public transit incentives and subsidies, and promotional measures (public education and marketing campaigns). TDM can reduce congestion and environmental impact by reducing the number and length of trips and increasing the number of passengers per vehicle. TDM can also promote equity, reduce traffic fatalities, and encourage sustainable urban growth.
2. Parking Maximums: Parking maximums set a cap on the number of parking spaces that developers can provide as part of a proposed project. When designed correctly, parking maximums can ensure that parking is not oversupplied and incentivize developers to design for alternative transit options.