In 2005, The High Cost of Free Parking by UCLA urban planning professor Donald Shoup was a watershed moment for cities grappling with skyrocketing housing costs and the environmental degradation and the large increase in costs created by concrete and asphalt parking spots. It turns out that parking requirements across the country were based on exactly . . . nothing but pure guesses about how many should be required. Finally, the elimination of parking requirements city-wide in Boulder and for all uses will be considered if the Planning Board approves the staff recommendation at its meeting Tuesday, August 20, 2024. If approved, the work will be done over the next ten months during the next phase of the Access Management and Parking Strategy (AMPS) (see the meeting packet here).
These actions are not a moment too soon. “Parking lots are an environmental disaster twice over, consuming vast quantities of materials and land while they subsidize endless driving,” says Henry Grabar in his informative article, “How Parking Reform Is Helping Transform American Cities, ” Yale Environment 360, Jan. 31, 2024. A consultant’s study in the Planning Board packet shows that even with significant parking reductions that have been granted for many Boulder projects, there are a lot of parking spots unused on all but the very few busiest days. (See the Fox-Tuttle report, pp. 48-68 of the packet.) Below, for example, shows the combined parking lot of the Embassy Suites/Hilton Garden Inn at 28th & Canyon on one of the busiest days of the year: Saturday afternoon of graduation weekend, May 11, 2024. <<READ MORE>>
The impetus for an examination of whether Boulder’s parking requirements should be reduced or eliminated is the Colorado Legislature’s passage of HB2024-1304. This bill prohibits cities along the Front Range from requiring parking in any new multi-family or residential mixed-use development in a “transit service area” after June 30, 2025. Most of Boulder (89% to be exact) is in a “transit service area” (the part of the city shown in blue on the map below).
Staff has proposed studying the elimination of parking requirements in the remaining 11% of the city, as well, which would simplify the code by having one standard for the whole city. This change would allow developers to determine the parking needs for a project in consultation with lenders and build accordingly, rather than meeting an arbitrary parking requirement that hasn’t changed in 70 years.
Boulder is late in making this move. Since the AMPS project was started in 2014, 900 cities have reduced parking requirements and 78 cities have eliminated parking requirements completely (AMPS memo, p. 7). It is past time for Boulder to do likewise.
BHN readers with a special interest in this subject may wish to attend the August 20, 2022 Planning Board meeting at 6:00 PM in person or via Zoom. The link to join the meeting will be posted here 24 hrs before the meeting. You can also submit comments to Planning Board and staff via email).
As part of AMPS, Planning Board and staff will also overhaul the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) requirements for multifamily housing. Every project currently must include a report on a set of strategies aimed at maximizing traveler choices. Imposing a TDM requirement on multifamily housing adds another expense to the cost of building affordable and middle-income housing units. The cost of a TDM plan adds to the price of every unit. TDM plans themselves can be produced for $5,000-$10,000. However, staff typically requires that the TDM plan be constructed using the results of both traffic and parking studies. This raises the whole cost of the TDM and related studies to $30,000-$40,000.
The City is requiring TDM plans because the City has under-invested in protected bike lanes and pathways that make our city more accessible and make movement by foot and micro-mobility more pleasant—not just for a single development, but for everyone along the route. The City is asking the developer to draft a plan that will reduce car trips at a specific site because the City has not created sufficient protected pathways and bikeways to access places for living, working, shopping and playing without the use of a car
Get Involved: How you can reach Planning Board
Email Planning Board to express your views. Any correspondence you wish the Board to review is best received via email at least 24 hours prior to the beginning of the meeting.Attend or speak in person or via Zoom Tuesday evening. The meeting in Council Chambers begins at 6pm. The Zoom link is posted here 24 hours before the meeting.