Eliminate minimum parking requirements?

[wilcal]

Market-Based parking headed before City Council next week:

 

 

The map that is being presented:

 

 

[BeerNut]

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.

Edited July 14, 2019 by BeerNut

[wilcal]

Market-based parking ordinance has passed!

[Blue Dogs]

On ‎7‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 11:53 AM, wilcal said:

Market-based parking ordinance has passed!

Congratulations!

[wilcal]

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

 

 

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. 

[j_cuevas713]

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

 

 

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.

[Luminare]

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.

[j_cuevas713]

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. 

[Luminare]

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.

[j_cuevas713]

1 minute ago, Luminare said:

 

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

Fair lol

[BeerNut]

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. 

[X.R.]

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 August 1, 2019 by X.R.

[j_cuevas713]

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. 

[wilcal]

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!

[Luminare]

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.

[Ross]

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.

[ADCS]

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.

[gmac]

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.

[cspwal]

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

[ADCS]

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.

[Luminare]

28 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.

 

17 minutes ago, ADCS said:

 

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.

 

Or we can not ban anything. That would be nice too. Always people on whatever side that go way to far and this is the case here. There is a center position that can work without banning anything. You know that right? Banning never works for almost anything...or anything period. This conversation isn't about banning or taking away anything from anyone. This is about the elimination of a "minimum standard" meaning people can now choose what they wish to do with vehicles as based on the market. I'm not going to let this devolve into a rage fest with torches asking to ban anything. Now do y'all have something actually worthwhile that would be tenable and realistic?

Edited August 1, 2019 by Luminare

[Ross]

46 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.

Some of them are the vehicles they use to make a living, and they can't afford to have that and a smaller vehicle. Others have trailers they tow, etc. It's not just people driving large vehicles for the sake of it.

[__nevii]

Since the discussion that has occured, the 2020 Climate Action Plan released by the city calls for the elimination of parking minimums citywide no later than 2030.
http://greenhoustontx.gov/climateactionplan/CAP-April2020.pdf

That leaves me wondering whether the city will do it "step-by-step", starting with 610 before moving to Beltway 8 and beyond. That's what I hope, because it is much better than the alternative of thumb-twiddling until the very last minute.

[BeerNut]

Will there be a surge in neighborhoods petitioning for minimum lot size to combat townhomes in certain areas?

[__nevii]

I'm reviving this thread once again, because I really hope that this newly mayoral + city council administration takes this issue seriously. Minimums need to be abolished STAT.

It's quite shocking to see how slow many large cities are on this issue: even the likes of Chicago, Philly, and NY f*****g C still have them.

Edited December 10, 2023 by __nevii

[__nevii]

Okay, now I'm starting to to see what posters like @monarch mean when they talk about "Austin and Dallas eating Houston's lunch:"
https://candysdirt.com/2023/12/06/dallas-zoning-committee-inches-closer-to-eliminating-minimum-parking-requirements/

Although it should be stated that there's lots of misunderstaning pertaining to these issues — not just from the suburbanites, but even many of the "urbanists" I've seen all across other sites.

Edited December 12, 2023 by __nevii

[Houston19514]

20 hours ago, __nevii said:

Okay, now I'm starting to to see what posters like @monarch mean when they talk about "Austin and Dallas eating Houston's lunch:"
https://candysdirt.com/2023/12/06/dallas-zoning-committee-inches-closer-to-eliminating-minimum-parking-requirements/

Although it should be stated that there's lots of misunderstaning pertaining to these issues — not just from the suburbanites, but even many of the "urbanists" I've seen all across other sites.

And it also should be stated that until very recently (as in, last month), Houston was way ahead of Dallas and Austin (and for the moment remains ahead of Dallas) with regard to eliminating minimum parking requirements. Houston has not had minimum parking requirements Downtown for many years; both Dallas and Austin did (and Dallas stil  does); and Houston expanded that beyond downtown in the last couple years.

In a related thought:  I hope someone will alert us when they see a significant development in any of these cities that provides fewer parking spaces than would have been required under their prior parking requirements.

[__nevii]

51 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

And it also should be stated that until very recently (as in, last month), Houston was way ahead of Dallas and Austin (and for the moment remains ahead of Dallas) with regard to eliminating minimum parking requirements. Houston has not had minimum parking requirements Downtown for many years; both Dallas and Austin did (and Dallas stil  does); and Houston expanded that beyond downtown in the last couple years.

In a related thought:  I hope someone will alert us when they see a significant development in any of these cities that provides fewer parking spaces than would have been required under their prior parking requirements.

What you say is indeed true, and it's actually part of what I alluded to regarding the "misunderstandings." And I honestly feel it might be a culprit in why Houston (and many other US cities in general) have been slower on moving through these issues than they otherwise might have been.

The thing is, even on many urbanist-dedicated forums, I've seen, for ages and ages, how "Houston's lack of zoning creates ugly, unregulated sprawl" or other sentiments of the sort. Most likely a conflation of overall lack of regulation regarding development in general (which often happens from various state/federal level policies) with specific laws/lackthereof regarding a specific municipality? Regardless, I've seen the sentiment posted across Reddit, City-Data, etc — it was especially prominent in the wake of the flood events during the mid 2010s (Memorial Day 2015, Tax Day 2016, and especially Hurricane Harvey in 2017).

So, when Houston (or some other Texas city except Austin) deals with lax land use the whole time, it's all the usual glib remarks of  "small gubmint conservatives cutting corners, enjoying their freedums, etc".

But then channels like NotJustBikes come along and advocate the same loosening of zoning restrictions. Or places like Minneapolis, Portland, make moves towards those loosening of laws. All of a sudden, it becomes "educated, enlightened, progressive bastion!"

Just my speculation, but I it's possible the sort of "double-standard" might actually have played a role with regards to why changes in these policies have been so slow. It's very easy to look at the expanse of sprawl across the Houston area, and then pass it off as either "market at work, people are just fat and happy" or "Houston city planning sucks, lolz": meanwhile, significant context is ignored regarding the role both the federal and especially state level government (i.e. TXDOT framework, weak counties, powers granted to MUD developers, etc) played regarding all this.

The recent proposition from the past November gives stronger powers to council-members regarding the agenda: perhaps that can be channeled for stronger moves regarding the pedestrian-friendly front (regardless of Whitmire, assuming he's more hostile than Turner at that front).

Edited December 13, 2023 by __nevii

[BEES?!]

Ohhhh. I definitely agree with what you're talking about, @__nevii. I remember for years and years people trashed Houston's lack of zoning- it was not seen as an enlightened, good, progressive thing to do. It was downright denigrated.

Heck, even up until pretty recently, I'd see otherwise "urbanist"-leaning people on places like Reddit slam Houston's mixing of uses showcased our squashed-in SF townhouses next to commercial buildings as if it were some kind of...problem? Like...what is the issue with it? "It's ugly"? Who cares? It's not like it's gonna be there forever- give it 20 years and a whole neighborhood can radically change here, but is that really a problem? People buy them, and they keep getting built, so there must be something there that's working.

I don't want to be inflammatory or necessarily prescribe malice where there may be none at all, but sometimes I wonder if it's some sort of prejudice- whether it's on the basis of class or race or whatever. Surely it's not just because we're in Republican-Red Texas, because as you've mentioned, Austin doesn't get the same level of denigration, and everyone knows cities generally tend to lean some shade of Blue no matter where they are (with some exceptions). So, what gives?

[BeerNut]

It's going to be tough to increase market based parking inside the loop.  All of Midtown was supposed to be included but they got a carve out because so many people complained.  People have become accustomed to idea that street in front of their homes is their personal parking area.