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Tag Archive for: parking minimums

AB1401: Housing for People, Not Cars

August 24, 2021/by Kevin Claxton

Update, August 26, 2021: The Senate Appropriations Committee declined to take this bill out of the suspense file. Translation: AB 1401, which would have ended parking mandates in certain new construction, will not advance this year.

In the USA, we have a parking problem. As UCLA urban planning professor and parking guru Donald Shoup explained in his masterpiece, “The High Cost of Free Parking.” In the U.S., we have eight parking spaces for every vehicle driven and have created 1000 square feet of parking for every car on the road, but only 800 square feet of housing for each human.

Why is parking a problem?

“Minimum parking requirements increase the supply and reduce the price – but not the cost – of parking. They bundle the cost of parking spaces into the cost of development, and thereby increase the prices of all the goods and services sold at the sites that offer free parking.”

– The trouble with minimum parking requirements, Donald C. Shoup, Department of Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles, 1999

How did so much parking get built in the first place?

These parking minimum regulations created abundant car parking, but that came with a considerable cost. Too much parking has been a disaster for California. 

First, when communities make parking a car-is-easier than alternative transportation, people will drive — and drive, and drive. 

Second, those parking minimums are a huge contributor to California’s housing crisis. Every parking spot adds tens of thousands of dollars to construction costs in a state where it’s already expensive to build housing. Worse still, a significant number of parking spots are unused.

San Diego, Oakland, and other California cities have eliminated minimum parking requirements for developments near transit. This is a smart move that will make housing more affordable and projects easier to build. However, some communities are clinging tightly to outdated, car-centric planning regulations. So a statewide law banning parking minimums in transit-rich areas is one of the best steps California can take to relieve its housing crunch.

Let’s house people, not cars

CalBike supports AB 1401 (Friedman), which would eliminate antiquated parking minimums in new buildings near transit. This would free up valuable transit-friendly areas for more housing.

Commuting to work, shop, and recreating without owning a car is easy in walkable, bikeable neighborhoods. But buildings with minimum parking requirements often tie each housing unit to a parking space, forcing people who don’t own cars to pay extra for an amenity they don’t need. Nationally, bundled garage parking costs renters $1,700 more per year. 

 
At the press conference announcing the bill, Assemblymember Friedman said that her goals are to help California set policies that “prioritize and center human beings over cars; that prioritize people, housing, health, and the environment.”

Freedom of choice

By uncoupling parking and housing, we can reduce the cost of housing for car-free Californians. In cities where parking minimums have ended, you can now find places to live with parking available for an extra fee or without parking fees attached. 

For example, at Berkeley’s Gaia Building, just 42 parking spaces serve 91 apartments. Residents who want a parking spot pay $230 per space per month. Car-free tenants don’t have to pay for parking. The result is a building that houses 237 adult residents and just 20 cars. That’s a win-win for housing and the climate.

Here’s how AB 1401 would work 

The bill to end parking mandates would prohibit a state or local public agency from imposing minimum parking requirements on residential, commercial, or other developments if the building is within 1⁄2 mile of public transit and in a county with a population greater than 600,000. Just 15 of California’s 58 counties meet that criteria; however, those counties are home to more than three-quarters of the state’s population.

In counties with fewer than 600,000 residents, the minimum parking requirement would be prohibited within 1⁄4 mile of transit for cities of 75,000 or more. 

Minimum parking laws have been a recipe for high housing and building costs, adding to California’s housing crisis. It’s time to stop building excess parking in transit-rich neighborhoods. Ending parking mandates will help California address homelessness, traffic jams, dirty air, and the climate crisis.

What you can do to end parking mandates

AB 1401 has passed out of the Assembly and will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on August 26.

AB 1401 will let individuals decide whether they want to rent a home with parking or without. Sign CalBike’s petition to support developments without parking minimums[link].

And, if your California Senator is on the Appropriations Committee, please call or email them to ask them to support AB 1401 and an end to parking mandates.

California Senate Appropriations Committee Members:

Senator Anthony J. Portantino (Chair)

Senator Patricia C. Bates (Vice Chair)

Senator Steven Bradford

Senator Brian W. Jones

Senator Sydney Kamlager

Senator John Laird

Senator Bob Wieckowski

https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/parking-minimums-scaled.jpeg 2560 1707 Kevin Claxton https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.png Kevin Claxton2021-08-24 18:57:092021-08-31 18:18:38AB1401: Housing for People, Not Cars

AB 3153 Will Create More Bike Parking and More Affordable Housing

April 22, 2020/by Kevin Claxton

One of the bills CalBike is sponsoring, AB 3153 (Rivas), seeks to alleviate two problems: housing affordability and last mile transportation. The bill allows developers to build fewer car parking spots than the minimum required by local planning regulations if they replace the car parking spaces with bike parking spots. The bill also allows developers to replace required car parking spaces with car sharing spaces. It is written to ensure that stronger local bike parking requirements will still apply. 

This bill is an important step forward. It’s one of many we need to develop the housing stock we need with the urban density to make car-free transportation a viable option.

Parking minimums and affordability

In the discussion of solutions to California’s housing crisis, the role of car parking gets too little attention. Many cities have minimum parking requirements for new buildings. Each unit of housing must also include a unit of car storage. This adds to the expense of the project and drives up the cost of housing. When units are sold or rented with parking, residents who don’t own cars are forced to pay for extra space they don’t need. Parking construction and especially parking minimums are another more way we embed car culture into our built environment.

AB 3153 makes it easier to get around by bike

AB 3153 will increase the amount of secure bike parking available in new buildings. It’s especially important where cities have no minimum bike parking requirements. If you don’t have a safe space to store a bike, a bike is a risky investment. If your only secure choice is to carry your bike up stairs into your apartment, you may have to forego the option of using a bike for transportation in your community.  Since bicycle parking spots are much cheaper to build than car parking spots, AB 3153 will reduce building costs while supporting green transportation. It’s a win for affordable housing and a win for affordable transportation.

California can’t wait till the pandemic passes to deal with its housing shortage. That’s why the bill’s author chose to keep this bill alive despite the pressure to reduce the number of bills moving forward. 

While many of the bills that were introduced in this session have been tabled because of the need to focus on solutions to the coronavirus crisis, AB 3153 will have its first hearing soon. CalBike will follow it every step of the way and advocate to keep it strong. The AB 3153 fact sheet has more information.

https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/construction-blueprints.jpg 331 500 Kevin Claxton https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.png Kevin Claxton2020-04-22 18:22:372020-04-29 14:29:53AB 3153 Will Create More Bike Parking and More Affordable Housing

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