by Nancy Schneider (January, 2008)
Planning
Many municipalities view parking as such a necessity that, if land is available, as much of it as possible must be allocated for the rare occasions when the maximum is needed.
Planners typically use generic one-approach-fits-all standards that apply to general land-use categories and are based on the International Transportation Engineers (ITE) and American Planning Association (APA) guidelines. These models are often based on suburban formulas with maximum demands for two car households; this encourages the consumption of green fields for grey fields, and also encourages more car use. Community-specific factors, such as natural resources, surrounding land use, density, demographics, income levels, transit use, or alternative transit options (bus, rail, bike, walking, even carpooling or car sharing), are either ignored or not weighted heavily enough. Free parking is viewed as a right by car owners. The true cost of parking is not paid for by the user.
Generic parking requirements create excess parking spaces that consume land and resources, encourage car use and associated pollution, and degrade water quality. Many cities do not count on-street parking when calculating the number of spaces available!
Not only do municipalities over-allocate (and overpay) for parking, the same standards force developers also to over-allocate parking. Environmental, financial, and social impacts are pointedly overlooked.
In the US, it appears, more care is given to housing our cars than our people. Each car is "given" over 100 sq ft. to occupy at the home, at employment centers, at the shopping center, and everywhere else it may go. According to Todd Litman, author of Parking Management Best Practices, a typical automobile is parked 23 hours each day and uses several parking spaces each week.
The true cost of parking comprises:
- Aesthetic costs
- Land costs
- Actual purchase price of the land
- Opportunity costs for land consumed for parking
- Loss in tax revenue due to the lower taxable value of parking
- Construction costs:
- Average surface parking space costs over $2,000 per space;
- Garage parking construction costs over $20,000 per space.
- Maintenance,
- Utilities,
- Insurance,
- Administration
- Operation costs
- Environmental costs and clean up:
- Polluted storm water run-off affecting groundwater and nearby water bodies (ocean, lakes, etc.) supported by additional costly infrastructure.
- Heat Island Effect - Higher outside air temperatures resulting from the increase of paved surfaces.
- Water Shortages are increased when rainwater cannot penetrate local surfaces replenishing ground water.
If less parking is needed, more land is available for alternative uses such as affordable housing, open space and parks, pedestrian walkways and safer bikeways.
Now is the Time
Land is now recognized as a finite resource. More thoughtful uses, such as Smart Growth, Urban Infill, and New Urbanism, are being utilized. But Parking Strategizing, Planning and Management is currently the most under recognized opportunity for thoughtful land use and for decreasing the amount of land dedicated to parking.
Mobility is the goal. If transit and other modes are convenient, inexpensive and safe, car usage will be less desirable. Automobile storage space (parking) should not be given priority in regard to land-use. Land used for parking should be a last resort when other avenues, like transit, have been exhausted. Premiums should be paid for the rental of surface space for housing automobiles.
Programs to manage space and reduce parking include:
- Paid Parking,
- Shared Parking,
- In-Lieu Parking Fees,
- Centralized/Peripheral Parking,
- Maximum Limits
- Parking Freezes
- Subsidies for transit,
- Cash-out programs,
- Transit improvements,
- Pedestrian and bicycle prioritization, improvements, and amenities.
Endlessly and mindlessly adding parking, like adding traffic lanes, negates itself by inducing congestion and frustrating those who would park. It also crushes civility and incapacitates the earth itself. Moving people by other means makes a happier and more efficient city, and it is in the direction of less space for cars, and more space for humanity, that we must move.
Nancy E. Schneider was formerly a Planning Technician with the South Florida Regional Planning Council, and is currently an Appointee to the City of Delray Beach Parking Management Advisory Board and the Green Advisory Taskforce. She has an MBA from Keller Graduate School, Chicago, IL, and an MA in Geography from Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL
Photos by Jack Risemberg
