If you’ve been to a community meeting about an ETOD project, you’ve probably noticed that a common criticism of these projects is that they often come with fewer parking spaces than other types of developments. Cities created minimum parking requirements to ensure new developments provide enough parking for residents and prevent congestion. But research shows that concerns about parking are often overblown.
Many cities around the country are swapping minimum parking requirements for a new approach called “right-sizing parking.” This approach removes mandated parking requirements on many types of developments and allows developers to build the number of parking spaces that makes sense for the project. Here are three reasons right-sizing parking makes sense for Chicago.
Reason #1: Cities often provide much more parking than they need.
A 2016 study of parking dynamics in five US cities found that each had significantly more parking available than people actually used. Another 2016 report from the Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago found that residential buildings often offered twice as many parking spots as they needed, leaving half of their spaces sitting empty overnight.
By right-sizing parking, we can allow developers to provide an amount of parking that is better aligned with the needs of their project.
Reason #2: More parking creates more traffic.
Many people believe that less parking means more traffic congestion. But research shows the opposite is true: People drive more when there’s more parking available.
For example, a 2021 study in San Francisco found that buildings with at least one parking space per unit had more than twice the car-ownership rate of buildings with no parking. The researchers also found that having more access to public transit, walkability, and bike-ability in a neighborhood induced less driving. This reduces car traffic while helping create a greener, healthier environment.
Reason #3: More parking means less housing and higher housing costs.
Land used for empty parking spaces could be used to build more housing. When it’s not, less housing gets built, driving up housing prices.
Building parking is also expensive. In Chicago in 2022, a single surface level parking spot cost around $31,000, while an underground spot cost $42,000. This can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in additional construction costs for developers. That cost gets rolled into rents, driving up the cost of a unit even for people who don’t drive.
That matters in a city like Chicago, where more than a quarter of households don’t own a car. And it means that people who don’t drive, including seniors and people with disabilities, end up covering parking costs for people who do.
Right-sizing parking doesn’t mean doing away with parking. It means allowing developers to provide an amount of it that fits demand. To learn more about right-sizing and ETOD, check out our Resources page.
