On August 27, the City of Longmont won a Metro Vision Award for Parking Code Amendments from the Denver Regional Council of Governments. Longmont is the first non-coastal western city to eliminate minimum parking requirements for new developments. Land development codes set a certain number of parking spaces that need to be available, but these requirements typically exceed the actual parking needs of the development.
Seattle, Washington eliminated minimum parking regulations in certain areas, which led to 18,000 fewer parking spaces and saved $537 million. In total, developers created 40 percent less parking spaces than previous regulations would have required. Authors of a 2020 paper published in Land Use Policy suggest this is evidence that parking minimum requirements create spaces that are not needed by the community. This costs money to the developer that is often passed down to the consumer and takes up additional space that can be used to build more housing.
The City of Longmont shared a video to its Facebook page regarding the changes in parking code amendments. The video stated, “By removing requirements for developers to provide large parking lots, the policy change allows communities and property owners to have more flexibility in the design phase, resulting in community spaces that are more reflective of community needs and demands.”
In addition the video references the city’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as another reason to support the removal of these minimum parking regulations for developers. There is little data regarding the specific amount or percentage of spaces that are not used in areas with minimum parking regulations, but studies and evaluations all indicate that a substantial number of spaces are not utilized by the community. Using less space for parking provides more land for community housing in walkable communities. Also, reducing available parking encourages public transportation options furthering the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
