Public Hearing - Amend City Code - Ordinance Adoption - Parking Reductions for Multifamily Developments - Z-TA-8-23-Y (Ordinance G-7161). The City of Phoenix is hosting a public hearing to amend parking zoning requirements so they reduce the number of parking spaces available to poor people in affordable housing units. They claim this will create walkable neighborhoods, which is a big step toward 15 minute cities.
I support lowering the parking mandates. This isn't about removing parking in Phoenix, but it allows developers the ability to build parking the amount of parking that is needed with little to no excess for their projects. Phoenix has an excess of parking which is causing many issues. Phoenix does not need excess parking and parking minimums exacerbate issues like the urban heat island effect, and push the city further away from it's urban walking code goals.
The city currently has 4 parking spots for every car in the city, while some is necessary the current amount is excessive. The city spends billions on its public transportation but sabotages these efforts by mandating car dependency through the excessive amount of parking. Not only does this harm long term stability by increasing our urban heat island it makes the transit that does exist less effective as locations stay spread out and the parking takes the space of what could be housing.
Parking minimums serve as a subsidy for cars and reduce housing options by forcing the inclusion of parking spaces whether they’re necessary or not. Valuable real estate should be able to be used for productive purposes.
Reducing minimum parking requirements is an important step towards increasing housing supply, infilling our urban centers, and decreasing the near-complete car dependency of Phoenix. Parking minimums subsidize car use at great cost to taxpayers. Please give developers the freedom to determine the required parking capacity for a given project instead of a blanket policy.
Phoenix Community Alliance (PCA) recognizes that reductions in parking requirements are an element of increasing housing options. PCA agrees with the decision to send this discussion back to the Transportation, Infrastructure, and Planning (TIP) Subcommittee for further review and comment before a City Council vote in November.
Patrick McDaniel
Advocacy Director
Phoenix Community Alliance
For too long we as a city have given up far too much of prime land to sit empty the vast majority of the time. Now we are dealing with the effects of so much parking, the urban heat island effect caused by all the empty asphalt, lack of affordable housing due to the requirement to build costly parking structures, and worst of all the cost of subsidizing the massive empty lots all over the city. The poor, students and those who just don't/ can't afford cars are tired of subsidizing the wealthy.
As submitted concerns rightly pointed out, parking is hard to find in Phoenix. This, I believe, is evidence *for* the reductions of parking mandates. Parking mandates are a car subsidy. They convert valuable land to asphalt, push residential and commercial areas apart, making *more* people drive and making it hard for those with limited mobility to travel around. By easing these mandates, we do not remove parking, we only give ourselves the ability to choose the parking we *want* and *need*.
Phoenix and the surrounding cities are plagued by cars. No one wants to use public transportation because the infrastructure is designed around cars. When new infrastructure projects are done only cars are considered, people are left behind. We need more robust public transport and alternative transport options supported through city planning. Reducing parking minimums for multifamily developments is a good first step.
Public Hearing - Amend City Code - Ordinance Adoption - Parking Reductions for Multifamily Developments - Z-TA-8-23-Y (Ordinance G-7161). The City of Phoenix is hosting a public hearing to amend parking zoning requirements so they reduce the number of parking spaces available to poor people in affordable housing units. They claim this will create walkable neighborhoods, which is a big step toward 15 minute cities.
I support parking reductions and the proposal to continue this discussion at the subcommittee.
I support lowering the parking mandates. This isn't about removing parking in Phoenix, but it allows developers the ability to build parking the amount of parking that is needed with little to no excess for their projects. Phoenix has an excess of parking which is causing many issues. Phoenix does not need excess parking and parking minimums exacerbate issues like the urban heat island effect, and push the city further away from it's urban walking code goals.
The city currently has 4 parking spots for every car in the city, while some is necessary the current amount is excessive. The city spends billions on its public transportation but sabotages these efforts by mandating car dependency through the excessive amount of parking. Not only does this harm long term stability by increasing our urban heat island it makes the transit that does exist less effective as locations stay spread out and the parking takes the space of what could be housing.
Parking minimums serve as a subsidy for cars and reduce housing options by forcing the inclusion of parking spaces whether they’re necessary or not. Valuable real estate should be able to be used for productive purposes.
Reducing minimum parking requirements is an important step towards increasing housing supply, infilling our urban centers, and decreasing the near-complete car dependency of Phoenix. Parking minimums subsidize car use at great cost to taxpayers. Please give developers the freedom to determine the required parking capacity for a given project instead of a blanket policy.
Phoenix Community Alliance (PCA) recognizes that reductions in parking requirements are an element of increasing housing options. PCA agrees with the decision to send this discussion back to the Transportation, Infrastructure, and Planning (TIP) Subcommittee for further review and comment before a City Council vote in November.
Patrick McDaniel
Advocacy Director
Phoenix Community Alliance
For too long we as a city have given up far too much of prime land to sit empty the vast majority of the time. Now we are dealing with the effects of so much parking, the urban heat island effect caused by all the empty asphalt, lack of affordable housing due to the requirement to build costly parking structures, and worst of all the cost of subsidizing the massive empty lots all over the city. The poor, students and those who just don't/ can't afford cars are tired of subsidizing the wealthy.
As submitted concerns rightly pointed out, parking is hard to find in Phoenix. This, I believe, is evidence *for* the reductions of parking mandates. Parking mandates are a car subsidy. They convert valuable land to asphalt, push residential and commercial areas apart, making *more* people drive and making it hard for those with limited mobility to travel around. By easing these mandates, we do not remove parking, we only give ourselves the ability to choose the parking we *want* and *need*.
Phoenix and the surrounding cities are plagued by cars. No one wants to use public transportation because the infrastructure is designed around cars. When new infrastructure projects are done only cars are considered, people are left behind. We need more robust public transport and alternative transport options supported through city planning. Reducing parking minimums for multifamily developments is a good first step.