What are minimum parking requirements?

You’ve probably heard time and time again something along the lines of “the city is taking away all of our parking” or that the city shouldn’t remove parking requirements, “where will we park?” We already know that the city is crammed full of parked cars, even with recent street projects, but what exactly are minimum parking requirements? 

A parking minimum is a part of land-use zoning code that forces new developments to build a certain number of off-street parking spaces. Most of Salt Lake City has parking requirements, with the exception of areas in the “transit context,” which is a small ¼ mile buffer around TRAX stations. The key here is that it is a minimum, so in areas that have no parking requirement, developers can still build parking but they have the flexibility to build the amount of parking they want. 

At first glance, it may seem great to the general public to have plentiful off-street parking, but it has a huge hidden cost, literally. According to the Parking Reform Network, structured parking often has a cost of $40-60k per stall, and can take up to 300 square feet when considering the access aisles (a studio or 1 bedroom apartment is only about 2 stalls!) Have you ever wondered why most new multistory apartments and townhomes look identical? Parking plays a huge role. Next time pay attention to new developments and you’ll notice the first two floors of multistory apartments are cement parking garages with housing on top, and townhomes dedicate ⅓ of their space to a garage and paved access, resulting in a lack of green space. 

Does removing parking requirements mean developers will stop building parking? Absolutely not. But there would be an option to, and this is essential for building affordable housing and making our streets more livable, with entryways and patios fronting the street instead of hulking garages. 

In the US, 115 cities have stopped requiring parking minimums. So why not Salt Lake City? Mostly because of a lack of understanding and a cautious approach. Never say “eliminate parking…” in a community meeting or you’re guaranteed an angry mob, that’s why we focus on the requirement! The removal of the mandates in the transit context are relatively new, but planners don’t think the city is ready for fully removing the requirements. Though with a bit of education on what minimum parking requirements actually pertain to, we believe it is possible.

This large apartment building in South Salt Lake has more parking than it has housing!