Policy - Parking Mandates
This is the first entry in our ongoing Policy series. Pittsburgh is in the midst of a severe housing crisis, with many neighborhoods becoming increasingly out of reach for many families. While the causes for our housing problems today are many, the goal of Pro-Housing Pittsburgh is to advocate for each and every change that can lessen the extent of the crisis. Each entry in this series describes a specific Policy that can be undertaken by the local government to help with the housing crisis in Pittsburgh.
What are Minimum Parking Mandates?
Parking Mandates are requirements for the number of off street parking spots a building must have. Minimum Parking Mandates, or Off-Street Parking Requirements, as they’re known in the Pittsburgh zoning code, require that a minimum amount of off-street car parking spaces are provided anytime there is a new development, an expansion or alteration takes place, or there is a change of occupancy. Construction, expansion, or change of occupancy is not permitted unless the required amount of parking is built. The mandated amount of parking spaces is dependent on what the use of the lot will be, with there being a total of 63 distinct uses that have varying parking requirements. To read in full, they are located in Chapter 914 of our zoning code.
The rationale behind these mandates is that insufficient parking would be provided without them. However, these mandates can have absurd implications. For example, many currently existing multi-family buildings in Pittsburgh have zero off street parking, they are inhabited by households who either do not drive or use on street parking. Under the current zoning code, where multi-family buildings are required to have one off street parking spot per unit, these buildings do not conform with the zoning code and could not be built today. See our YCTBH series for examples, including The Eaglemoor, 732 S. Millvale, and Woodlawn Apartments.
Parking mandates are a standard part of most American cities’ zoning codes, with Pittsburgh adding them in 1958. The amount of parking spaces mandated by the zoning code is entirely arbitrary, with different cities having different amounts, and does not let property owners decide for themselves how much parking may be needed.
How do Minimum Parking Mandates Affect Us?
Parking mandates add to the cost of construction, which in turn adds to the cost of housing. In Pittsburgh, a single parking space in a structured parking garage can cost around $30k to construct. Whether these lots are built to serve retail, residential, or anything in between, the construction of parking spaces adds large costs to new developments, with these costs being passed down to renters and customers. While these mandates may make some developments more costly, they can also make other housing developments unfeasible entirely, causing a greater lack of housing. Mandates can also impact housing by forcing property owners to use up land for parking instead of potential other uses. When every residential building needs its own large lot, less space is available for other homes, which creates a vicious cycle wherein parking mandates create more car dependency in our city.
Additionally, the oversupply of parking exacerbates the climate crisis. The vast amounts of cement required for the construction of parking garages and lots create an immense amount of carbon dioxide. More impervious surfaces increase the heat island effect. Parking induces traffic and car ownership, which increases individuals’ carbon footprint and disincentivizes cleaner and less expensive alternatives like walking, biking, and public transit.
In the last decade, cities in the US have begun to wake up to how detrimental these mandates can be. Cities like San Jose, Buffalo, and Austin have all eliminated their requirements, with more and more cities continuing to do the same. Pittsburgh cannot fail to keep pace with peer cities, and must be the next city to remove these destructive and needlessly expensive mandates.
Suggested Policy
Pro-Housing Pittsburgh advocates for the full elimination of minimum parking mandates from the zoning code, with stricter requirements for the maximum allowed amount of spaces.
Resources:
Vox: The High Cost of Free Parking
The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup
Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar
