A master’s degree study at CU-Denver that led to changes in the city’s multifamily parking requirements has also garnered top honors from the American Planning Association, or APA, Colorado Chapter.
The graduate project aimed at Longmont’s parking policies got the attention of the planning community and earned the study a 2022 Merit Award from the American Planning Association, according to a city of Longmont news release.
“The study confirmed the city’s speculations that the city’s multifamily parking requirement is too onerous,” Longmont Transportation Planner Ben Ortiz said in the news release. “The city will propose code changes that should contribute to reaching some larger city goals such as providing more affordable housing and reducing the city’s carbon footprint.”
The city of Longmont commissioned this study in the spring of 2021 in collaboration with the University of Colorado’s Master of Urban Planning, orMURP, Capstone program. Based on the results, Longmont is proposing to replace minimum parking requirements with parking maximums at multifamily housing projects in the Main Street corridor which should lower the overall cost of development while encouraging more environmentally sensitive transportation modes, according to the news release.
“The findings in this plan will advance many of the goals and strategies defined in the Envision Longmont Multimodal and Comprehensive Plan,” Assistant City Manager Joni Marsh said in the news release. “We are grateful for this recognition from APA.”
APA Chapter Awards recognize outstanding projects, plans and people of the planning profession. Planning projects are honored on the basis of their innovation, ability to provide transferable lessons to other Colorado communities, excellent quality, promotion of community progress and the public good, effectiveness of implementation, and other unique factors that make these projects exemplary, according to the city.
The study, titled Multifamily Housing Parking Optimization Study: An Evaluation of Parking Requirements for Multifamily Housing in Longmont, Colorado, can be read in full at https://indd.adobe.com/view/b770102f-f58b-4670-a822-3b5025d57ae8. A video summary can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKebWGw5QaU.
