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Eliminate minimum parking requirements?


Reefmonkey

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A few weeks ago, after the city planning commission fielded a proposal to eliminate the minimum parking requirements,  the Houston Chronicle's op-ed voiced its full support for ditching them

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Ditch-Houston-s-burdensome-parking-regulations-13220515.php

 

What do people think of this, is this the way to spur better urban planning and encourage using public transportation, ride sharing, micromobility? Or are they putting the cart before the horse, reducing parking before providing better alternatives to driving yourself?

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51 minutes ago, Reefmonkey said:

 

What do people think of this, is this the way to spur better urban planning and encourage using public transportation, ride sharing, micromobility? Or are they putting the cart before the horse, reducing parking before providing better alternatives to driving yourself?

In this instance, I think the free market is the best way to determine which businesses will be viable with less parking and which neighborhoods have sufficient pedestrian traffic to justify opening a business.
While I have some sympathy for those who have become used to exploiting the free parking in front of their homes, it's time that people understand that on-street parking belongs to everyone. I've lived in several properties where no off-street parking was provided, and I'm pretty sure that my rent would have been higher if it had. 
I'm tired of seeing the fabric of a street torn apart needlessly for parking lots that are never more than half full. 

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1 hour ago, HNathoo said:

I think that by allowing developers that optionality, you'll begin to see more creativity to solve the problem. When there was only one option, there wasn't really an incentive to think outside the box.

I agree, I think that's a very solid point as to the monotony of development in Houston. This is going to bring some great density to areas of the city that honestly deserve it. 

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  • 3 months later...
On ‎10‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 4:20 PM, j_cuevas713 said:

I agree, I think that's a very solid point as to the monotony of development in Houston. This is going to bring some great density to areas of the city that honestly deserve it. 

Any new developments ?

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On 10/8/2018 at 3:09 PM, HNathoo said:

I think that by allowing developers that optionality, you'll begin to see more creativity to solve the problem. When there was only one option, there wasn't really an incentive to think outside the box.

 

Honestly, you could simply pitch this via selfish business terms, and that would be an easy sell. For a city that prides in being easy access to business interests its peculiar that we have a limitation that does the opposite of their MO. Why put such a burdensome requirement that is such a waste of money when that could go into more floors for a building or more retail lease space? If an argument can be pitched with this perspective then its a must. Its way more effective then trying to take the "moral" or "intellectual expert opinion" stance that might cause more resistance to change. It also flys in the face of our no-zoning policy. It we truly want to embrace no-zoning then lets go all the way.

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  • 1 month later...
On ‎2‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 8:16 AM, DrLan34 said:

 

I am curious myself. I found the video where they held the public hearing, but could not find the video where they voted on it two weeks later.

Haven't heard any new developments lately.

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On 1/30/2019 at 3:35 PM, Luminare said:

 

Honestly, you could simply pitch this via selfish business terms, and that would be an easy sell. For a city that prides in being easy access to business interests its peculiar that we have a limitation that does the opposite of their MO. Why put such a burdensome requirement that is such a waste of money when that could go into more floors for a building or more retail lease space? If an argument can be pitched with this perspective then its a must. Its way more effective then trying to take the "moral" or "intellectual expert opinion" stance that might cause more resistance to change. It also flys in the face of our no-zoning policy. It we truly want to embrace no-zoning then lets go all the way.

 

I generally agree on this.  The most consistent way to approach this that's in line with the city's overall no-zoning policies is to let the market decide how to provide access to businesses.  The only caveat to that, though, is by doing so you might end up with developers shifting their burdens onto the neighbors by not providing enough parking for those customers who don't wish to walk or take public transport. That's not really fair to those neighbors who then have to deal with additional traffic and parking problems.  How do you solve that or do you just tell them "tough luck"?

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18 hours ago, august948 said:

How do you solve that or do you just tell them "tough luck"?

Short answer? You tell them "tough luck".
People need to be disabused of the idea that free parking is a God-given birthright, and that on-street parking exists solely for the benefit of those who live adjacent to it. 
This isn't news in other big cities. People select their housing with the expectation that accommodations need to be made if they choose to have a car (or two). It's time for Houston to grow up, and place the responsibility squarely where it belongs.
If you can't afford to park your car, then you can't afford a car.

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1 minute ago, dbigtex56 said:

Short answer? You tell them "tough luck".
People need to be disabused of the idea that free parking is a God-given birthright, and that on-street parking exists solely for the benefit of those who live adjacent to it. 
This isn't news in other big cities. People select their housing with the expectation that accommodations need to be made if they choose to have a car (or two). It's time for Houston to grow up, and place the responsibility squarely where it belongs.
If you can't afford to park your car, then you can't afford a car.

 

Understood, but what I'm referring to here isn't so much a God-given right to a parking space for your home but deliberate burden shifting by businesses onto the surrounding residents.  If they're deliberately not going to provide enough parking and are going to burden the surrounding streets then maybe they should contribute their savings to some other public good as mitigation.

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On 3/22/2019 at 10:00 AM, dbigtex56 said:

Short answer? You tell them "tough luck".
People need to be disabused of the idea that free parking is a God-given birthright, and that on-street parking exists solely for the benefit of those who live adjacent to it. 
This isn't news in other big cities. People select their housing with the expectation that accommodations need to be made if they choose to have a car (or two). It's time for Houston to grow up, and place the responsibility squarely where it belongs.
If you can't afford to park your car, then you can't afford a car.

 

What big cities do not have parking requirements?  

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On 3/24/2019 at 9:10 AM, Houston19514 said:

 

What big cities do not have parking requirements?  

That's a good question. 
I don't know. However, it would seem unlikely that places such as the French Quarter or Greenwich Village would emphasize parking over maintaining a dense, interesting, walkable streetscape.
Imagine how different those places would be if minimum parking requirements had been required for every shop, bar, and restaurant. They might look much like Houston.

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On 3/24/2019 at 12:56 PM, BeerNut said:

Is this the correct link? It takes me back to this page.

 

On 3/24/2019 at 12:56 PM, BeerNut said:

 

Midtown SuperNeighborhood isn't too happy about this based on the email they sent out.

Is there somewhere this email can be viewed?

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On 3/24/2019 at 9:10 AM, Houston19514 said:

 

What big cities do not have parking requirements?  

 

I believe most do not.  You can google maps of US cities without them and most cities have at least sectors without them.  The bigger, more dense cities, have very large sectors.  Outside of the US, I would expect it more.

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21 hours ago, kbates2 said:

 

I believe most do not.  You can google maps of US cities without them and most cities have at least sectors without them.  The bigger, more dense cities, have very large sectors.  Outside of the US, I would expect it more.

 

Most cities do not have minimum parking requirements?  Pretty sure that is false.  Even NYC has minimum parking requirements outside of Manhattan and I believe part of Brooklyn. Just as Houston has none in the CBD and part of Midtown.  I believe Houston is actually ahead of the game when compared to similar cities.

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30 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

 

Most cities do not have minimum parking requirements?  Pretty sure that is false.  Even NYC has minimum parking requirements outside of Manhattan and I believe part of Brooklyn. Just as Houston has none in the CBD and part of Midtown.  I believe Houston is actually ahead of the game when compared to similar cities.

 

I think it is hard to make the argument because it isn’t just a true/false.  Most cities have sectors with and without the requirements.  The question is the scale of each.

Edited by kbates2
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On 3/26/2019 at 11:38 AM, dbigtex56 said:

Is this the correct link? It takes me back to this page.

 

Is there somewhere this email can be viewed?

yeah probably should have snipped the powerpoint.  I didn't make it to this meeting...   

 

TxTuTru.jpg

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So I was curious, I tried looking up the parking  minumums in NYC and I found this

 

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2016/03/17/parking-requirements-will-be-reduced-in-a-huge-chunk-of-nyc/

 

it seems that there is, but only for publicly subsided housing, which is a far cry from Houston which has parking minimums for a broad spectrum of retail and multi-family residential requirements. I could be incorrect regarding NYC, so feel free to interject. I dont think NYC is a fair comparison however. Atlanta is similar to houston in terms of sprawl and recent growth in the late 20th century. It would appear they, among other US cities have parking minimums and are undergoing debate to reduce or remove them: https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2019/02/11/atlanta-zoning-update-addresses-parking-adus-missing-middle

 

Looking at my googling, it appears that many US cities have (or had) parking minimums that were enacted in the 50s and 60's which likely coincides with the transportation engineering movement of the era: Sprawl. 

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12 hours ago, Purdueenginerd said:

So I was curious, I tried looking up the parking  minumums in NYC and I found this

 

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2016/03/17/parking-requirements-will-be-reduced-in-a-huge-chunk-of-nyc/

 

it seems that there is, but only for publicly subsided housing, which is a far cry from Houston which has parking minimums for a broad spectrum of retail and multi-family residential requirements. I could be incorrect regarding NYC, so feel free to interject. I dont think NYC is a fair comparison however. Atlanta is similar to houston in terms of sprawl and recent growth in the late 20th century. It would appear they, among other US cities have parking minimums and are undergoing debate to reduce or remove them: https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2019/02/11/atlanta-zoning-update-addresses-parking-adus-missing-middle

 

Looking at my googling, it appears that many US cities have (or had) parking minimums that were enacted in the 50s and 60's which likely coincides with the transportation engineering movement of the era: Sprawl. 

 

No, NYC has minimum parking requirements for pretty much everything outside of lower and mid Manhattan.  Here's a document that provides a good summary and also a bunch of other information about minimum parking requirements.  https://www.nymtc.org/portals/0/pdf/presentations/Parking_Agenda_forNYMTC_PrintVersion.pdf

 

 

Even more similar than Atlanta is Dallas.  They also have minimum parking requirements throughout the city, even in the CBD.

Austin has minimum parking requirements everywhere except the CBD, just like Houston.

 

Here's a nice website that indicates progress towards eliminating minimum parking requirements.  Note that they don't even bother offering a pin-color for cities that have no minimum parking requirements; the highest level is green, for cities that have eliminated parking requirements in at least one neighborhood (like Houston).  https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1fpQabG3XKyHH7YNlmQobUHjwuLI&ll=32.46047397105892%2C-96.30246458164186&z=4

 

I have yet to find a major city in the US that has no minimum parking requirements.

Edited by Houston19514
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11 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

 

No, NYC has minimum parking requirements for pretty much everything outside of lower and mid Manhattan.  Here's a document that provides a good summary and also a bunch of other information about minimum parking requirements.  https://www.nymtc.org/portals/0/pdf/presentations/Parking_Agenda_forNYMTC_PrintVersion.pdf

 

 

Ah, perfect I stand corrected. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/1/2019 at 9:19 AM, Houston19514 said:

 

No, NYC has minimum parking requirements for pretty much everything outside of lower and mid Manhattan.  Here's a document that provides a good summary and also a bunch of other information about minimum parking requirements.  https://www.nymtc.org/portals/0/pdf/presentations/Parking_Agenda_forNYMTC_PrintVersion.pdf

 

 

Even more similar than Atlanta is Dallas.  They also have minimum parking requirements throughout the city, even in the CBD.

Austin has minimum parking requirements everywhere except the CBD, just like Houston.

 

Here's a nice website that indicates progress towards eliminating minimum parking requirements.  Note that they don't even bother offering a pin-color for cities that have no minimum parking requirements; the highest level is green, for cities that have eliminated parking requirements in at least one neighborhood (like Houston).  https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1fpQabG3XKyHH7YNlmQobUHjwuLI&ll=32.46047397105892%2C-96.30246458164186&z=4

 

I have yet to find a major city in the US that has no minimum parking requirements.

 

Some quick googling shows that Buffalo is the first to eliminate minimum parking city-wide and Minneapolis and San Francisco are in the process of eliminating them.

 

So yes, there is not a lot of precedent for a city-wide elimination, but I think Midtown would be a pretty modest and logical experiment. Also wouldn't hurt for our city to be near the forefront of a trend instead of following at a distance.

 

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  • 2 months later...

I got an email update on Market Based Parking in Midtown

from midtown Superneighborhood president


The City has agreed to compromise with the MSN and they have offered to exclude market-based parking from the highly-residential area East of San Jacinto. See the attached map. I have responded that I would like to make sure that parking for other residents in Midtown is provided for since there is a shortage of residential parking in other areas of Midtown (2016 Main, Brazos and Tuam. As far as businesses are concerned, I believe that their customers are taken care of with the two parking garages on Main (MATCH and Midtown Park Garage).”

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  • 2 weeks later...

This map doesn't look complete.  There is a section in NW Third Ward that has no parking minimums.   I understand why they didn't include all of Midtown based on the Super Neighborhood opposition.  I hope there is a plan to incrementally increase this area in Midtown and possibly to Emancipation in Third Ward.

 

Sharing previous MBP proposal map from from another thread.

parking.JPG

Edited by BeerNut
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  • 2 weeks later...

CoH released their Climate Action Plan to get our metro carbon-neutral by 2050 (please stifle your laughter) and it addresses market-based parking as part of that plan.

 

Full plan: http://www.greenhoustontx.gov/climateactionplan/20190725-draft-CAP.pdf

 

NI0Qwqo.png

 

As much as we hate to think it, 2030 is only 11.5 years away. The city has made previous comments that they want to expand the market-based parking if it's successful, so it'll be interesting to see if we could it expanded as far as BW8 in the next 10 years. 

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48 minutes ago, wilcal said:

CoH released their Climate Action Plan to get our metro carbon-neutral by 2050 (please stifle your laughter) and it addresses market-based parking as part of that plan.

 

Full plan: http://www.greenhoustontx.gov/climateactionplan/20190725-draft-CAP.pdf

 

NI0Qwqo.png

 

As much as we hate to think it, 2030 is only 11.5 years away. The city has made previous comments that they want to expand the market-based parking if it's successful, so it'll be interesting to see if we could it expanded as far as BW8 in the next 10 years. 

There's no reason why it wouldn't be successful. There are plenty of other cities that for many years have already shown it works. We're just catching up.

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2 minutes ago, j_cuevas713 said:

There's no reason why it wouldn't be successful. There are plenty of other cities that for many years have already shown it works. We're just catching up.

 

Yes and no. While other cities have done it. Remember they have some form of transport, but they are also, in terms of city limits, smaller than Houston in size. I believe this move will be successful, but we have enough differences to make sure we approach it steadily.

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Just now, Luminare said:

 

Yes and no. While other cities have done it. Remember they have some form of transport, but they are also, in terms of city limits, smaller than Houston in size. I believe this move will be successful, but we have enough differences to make sure we approach it steadily.

Agree but this should create more of an incentive to continue expanding our transit system. Right now where it stands, the removal of parking minimums sits in an area the city deemed as having excellent transit. 

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Just now, j_cuevas713 said:

Agree but this should create more of an incentive to continue expanding our transit system. Right now where it stands, the removal of parking minimums sits in an area the city deemed as having acceptable transit. 

 

Fixed it for you haha. We of course obviously agree.

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Plan seems well thought out.  Just remove the word 'green' so some people don't get triggered. Say it's a plan for modernization and for letting free market deciding out comes.  haha

 

What's the best way to manage businesses in residential areas that decide not to have any parking?  Is it to build parking garages, residential permits, dynamic pricing for street parking, or a some combination of all three. 

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15 minutes ago, j_cuevas713 said:

Fair lol

 

Its so sad that basically the excellent transit is the Red line and two small train lines, haha. I love it, but yeah. The rail can't get to Hobby soon enough. 

 

Eliminating parking minimums within the Beltway seems like an incredible stretch. Try just within 610 first, and then watch people whine about not having space to park their king cab ford 250. But its really the thought that counts here (shoot for the stars type thing), which is why we need to continue to vote in people who are not "the old dude/gal from Memorial/Kingwood/Humble/Uptown."

Edited by X.R.
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3 minutes ago, X.R. said:

 

Its so sad that basically the excellent transit is the Red line and two small train lines, haha. I love it, but yeah. The rail can't get to Hobby soon enough. 

 

Eliminating parking minimums within the Beltway seems like an incredible stretch. Try just within 610 first, and then watch people whine about not having space to park their king cab ford 250. But its really the thought that counts here (shoot for the stars type thing), which is why we need to continue to vote in people who are not "the old dude/gal from Memorial/Kingwood/Humble/Uptown."

I'm so done with people from the burbs having any influence on the city. And what I can't stand even more are those that come here in their king cab ford 250 on the weekends and complain about us as if we're the problem, while they decide to park on the sidewalk. 

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1 hour ago, j_cuevas713 said:

There's no reason why it wouldn't be successful. There are plenty of other cities that for many years have already shown it works. We're just catching up.

 

To be clear, I was laughing at the idea that Houston can achieve carbon neutrality be 2050. 

 

The transportation ambitions are insane!

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1 hour ago, BeerNut said:

Plan seems well thought out.  Just remove the word 'green' so some people don't get triggered. Say it's a plan for modernization and for letting free market deciding out comes.  haha

 

What's the best way to manage businesses in residential areas that decide not to have any parking?  Is it to build parking garages, residential permits, dynamic pricing for street parking, or a some combination of all three. 

 

I think the city should look into building "municipal" parking garages at key locations. Would be a great way to get some extra money. Would essentially be kind of a parking tax except its only for those that choose to park inside them and retail can designate or work out agreements with the city to unload parking requirements to these strategically placed garages. They should also be automated to pack in as much as possible with as little space needed as possible. No reason to meter every street and I think thats silly. One of the recent changes I have liked is something where the city is ok with businesses not putting curb cuts to every street they are next too and instead just ask for one primary curb cut. Frankly, we need to reevaluate the use/implementation of alleyways to redirect curb cuts away from streets and into alleys. Street parking is perfectly fine, but should be done in a sensible way. For how "green" Europe likes to portray themselves as, they also like their cars, and have a lot of street parking. Its fine to have it, but we lose out on a lot of potential street parking because we have curb cuts that interrupt moments where another space can be placed.

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2 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

I'm so done with people from the burbs having any influence on the city. And what I can't stand even more are those that come here in their king cab ford 250 on the weekends and complain about us as if we're the problem, while they decide to park on the sidewalk. 

It's not the burbs with the F250's that will complain. I know a bunch of people who live in the City limits who have large pickups, SUV's, etc, who need a place to park when they visit businesses. Houston is 600+ square miles within the city limits. One rule will not work everywhere.

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1 hour ago, Ross said:

It's not the burbs with the F250's that will complain. I know a bunch of people who live in the City limits who have large pickups, SUV's, etc, who need a place to park when they visit businesses. Houston is 600+ square miles within the city limits. One rule will not work everywhere.

They should consider not buying vehicles that do not fit the demands of a major city then. Personal responsibility and all.

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8 minutes ago, ADCS said:

They should consider not buying vehicles that do not fit the demands of a major city then. Personal responsibility and all.

 

COH should ban delivery vans and semis inside the loop, too. Y'all can walk to the furniture store and hump your trendy new sofa home on your back.

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The city isn't going to ban parking - the idea is to make it so the business owner or homeowner chooses how much parking to provide.  If somewhere doesn't provide parking sufficient for the F250s, then the F250 drivers won't shop there

 

Downtown has no parking minimum yet we are constantly complaining on this forum about at the surface lots.  Those things wouldn't go away, just get a little smaller

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10 minutes ago, gmac said:

 

COH should ban delivery vans and semis inside the loop, too. Y'all can walk to the furniture store and hump your trendy new sofa home on your back.

 

Nah, those serve a public good. But semis that don't serve an origin/destination route should be banned ITL, IMO. Would significantly improve I-10 traffic.

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