getting parking right tools for creating demand based parking requirements

Laura WienerASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF PLANNINGTOWN OF ARLINGTON

Dana AngeloDIRECTOREA FISH DEVELOPMENT LLC

Metro-Boston Smart Parking Initiative

PHASE 1: TOOLS FOR CREATING DEMAND-BASED PARKING

REQUIREMENTSKasia Hart

Transportation Policy Associate

Kate ItoPublic Health

Planner

Metropolitan Area Planning Council•Regional Planning

Agency for 101 cities and towns in Greater Boston

•Promote smart growth and regional collaboration

Smart ParkingAligning Parking Supply and Demand

•Goal: understand the existing relationship between parking supply and demand at multifamily developments

Data Collection

Surveyed 126 multifamily properties

Conducted overnight parking counts at 80 multifamily properties

4,511 Parking Spaces Counted

Serving 3,913 housing units

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Parking Utilization Rate by Surveyed Property (N=80)

Park

ing

Utiliz

ation

Rat

eHow full were the parking lots?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Parking Utilization Rate by Surveyed Property (N=80)

Park

ing

Utiliz

ation

Rat

eHow full were the parking lots?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Parking Utilization Rate by Surveyed Property (N=80)

Park

ing

Utiliz

ation

Rat

eHow full were the parking lots?

On average, parking lots were 74% full

0.2 to 2.2 parking spaces supplied per unit

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

Parking Supply per Unit by Surveyed Property (N=80)

Park

ing

Supp

ly R

atio

Phase 1 ModelBUILDING CHARACTERISTICS

o Parking supply per unito % of affordable unitso Tenureo Average number of

bedrooms/unito Average Rento Parking cost included o Building square footageo Floor Area Ratioo % building coverage of lot

NEIGHBORHOOD CHARACTERISTICS

o Job accessibilityo WalkScoreo Block sizeo Median rento AllTransit scoreo Transit Connectivity Indexo Transit as percentage of

incomeo Housing tenure

What drives parking?•Parking supply per unit

0 0 .5 1 1 .5 2 2 .50

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

Parking Supply per Unit

Park

ing

Dem

and

per U

nit

Phase 1 Summary of Findings1. Parking was

oversupplied2. Supply drives

demand

Next Steps

•Collect more data•Work with cities and towns on policy change

What You Can Do•Zoning changes◦ Reduce or eliminate parking minimums◦ Implement parking maximums◦ Modify parking requirements based on use (affordable housing, senior

housing) and/or access to transit◦ Allow parking to be shared between residents and customers if in a mixed-

use building

What You Can Do•Additional changes◦ Unbundle cost of parking from rent or purchase price◦ Allow developers to pay a fee-in-lieu of parking if developers are interested

in constructing fewer spaces than required◦ Encourage the use of carsharing services, such as Zipcar, through

carsharing credits

Don’t let past thinking dictate future planning

Thank you!Kasia Hart, MAPC

Transportation Policy Associatekhart@mapc.org | 617-933-0745

Kate Ito, MAPCPublic Health Planner

kito@mapc.org | 617-933-0729

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