Existing parking requirements for all development in
and around downtown Sacramento are currently under review with plans to reduce
or eliminate minimum parking standards. The City’s Planning Commission has been
discussing plans to reduce minimum parking standards over time to promote
walkable neighborhoods and districts and to increase the use of transit and
bicycles.
According to the published reports; The Zoning
Code’s parking requirements for new land uses are outdated and designed primarily
for suburban development, as opposed to redeveloping our existing urban and traditional
neighborhoods. These existing neighborhoods often include the reuse of lots and
buildings that were created prior to the significant increase in the use of the
automobile.
The City of Sacramento Zoning Code Parking Update is
a citywide effort to fundamentally reform how Sacramento plans, designs,
builds, evaluates, and thinks about its parking resources.
Throughout Sacramento there is a large amount of
publicly available parking that already exists, but is largely underutilized.
While several stakeholders mentioned that on-street parking congestion is a key
concern, data show that there is ample off-street parking capacity at peak
hour, with almost 46,000 vacant spaces in the Center City alone.
It is increasingly difficult to fit the current
amount of parking required into a buildable project as the site and project
become smaller.
The Problem:
• Parking requirements can create substantial
challenges to not only the cost, design, and development of infill projects but
also the community’s perceived negative impacts of the new development.
• Current regulations do not acknowledge the
benefits of mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods that are well-served by transit
in terms of reducing trips and the need for parking; they also do not provide
incentives for owners of existing parking facilities to share their parking
when it is not being used.
• Current regulations are inflexible both in how
off-street parking can be provided but also in how parking lots are designed.
• Many existing infill sites contain little or no
parking.
• New infill development is often expensive and
cannot afford the cost or space required for suburban parking standards.
Timeline:
1. Planning Commission Discussion of the Preliminary
Analysis March 8, 2012
2. Planning Commission Confirmation of Key Findings
and May 10, 2012 Recommendations
3. Law & Legislation Committee Confirmation of
Key Findings June 7, 2012 and Recommendations
4. Adoption of Report and Ordinances September 2012
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