Housing for Bellingham’s Post

🚗 Emerging Trends in Parking Requirements & Flexibility! 🚗 As our #SSMUHCountdown continues, how are communities approaching parking requirements? From Small Housing's analysis of proposals from across the province, we’re seeing many communities propose a tailored approach to parking based on housing type and unit numbers, significantly reducing minimum requirements in the process. For example, City of Prince Rupert is introducing a particularly innovative approach to parking requirements, proposing a sliding-scale approach: - Single-family homes are allocated a minimum of 1 off-street parking space each. - Duplexes are assigned 0.75 spaces per unit, while houseplexes (3 or 4 units) receive 0.5 spaces per unit. - Accessory dwelling units and secondary suites are provided with 0.25 spaces per unit, reflecting an emphasis on reducing parking demands for smaller or auxiliary units. These proposed reductions are aligned with provincial reasoning, acknowledging the unique urban landscape of Prince Rupert. While lacking frequent transit or alternative transportation methods, the city's walkability and proximity to downtown bus stops in R2/R1 zones are factored into parking considerations. As this example shows, municipalities are adapting regulations to suit their own diverse, evolving housing needs, while reducing parking requirements.  Stay tuned for more insights from our #SSMUHCountdown, and be sure to let us know in the comments how your community is approaching parking! #housing #solutions #gentledensity #missingmiddle #parking #policy

It's not only parking, but the aggregate of our transportation policy choices that shape the urban environment: do we prioritize cars (parking, streets), transit (at-grade, elevated, underground), bicycling, walking? How convenient (or not) do we make it to reach our desired destinations: residence, work, retail, entertainment, recreation, open public space. Do we create desirable, accessible space to conduct all of the above (placemaking). Does it foster a connected sense of neighborhood & community? Are we considering all aspects of the desired lifestyle vitality: economic, family, social & health? We look at transportation as a means of getting from Point A to Point B without considering the implications (second-order effects) of what kind of city, district or neighborhood are we creating? And most importantly, would we want to live there? #transportation #urbanism #urbanplanning #urbanmobility #urbandesign #newurbanism #housing

People over parking: The U.S. cities reclaiming their streets. With more square footage dedicated to parking each car than to housing each person, a growing number of cities are initiating parking reform. Amy Nguyen reports. Henry Grabar, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, Mingus Mapps, Donald Shoup, Tony Jordan, Parking Reform Network, ERIC ADAMS, Omar F. C40 Cities. This article is part of The Ethical Corporation's in-depth briefing #DecarbonisingCities (download PDF here: https://lnkd.in/ds-JZMUf) #parkingreform #cleantransport #decarbonization #decarbonizingcities #urbanplanning Terry Slavin, Liam Dowd, Ed Long https://lnkd.in/efJzYcN9

Car parking is often an overlooked factor in urban housing costs. Providing dedicated parking spaces, especially in densely populated urban areas, is both expensive and space consuming. For developers, these costs are typically passed on to buyers or renters, contributing to the overall price of housing. Reducing or eliminating mandatory car parking minimums in new developments can directly reduce the cost of construction and, consequently, the price of housing units. As part of the Brisbane City Council’s Inner-City Affordability Initiative, the tailored amendment on car parking addresses this by offering more flexibility to developers while providing increased transportation options to residents. Read the full article here - https://loom.ly/wuOn1dQ #BrisbaneCity #Parking

Why do we care more about housing cars than housing people? This is the central question of the excelling book Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World, which I recommend it to anyone who cares about either transportation, policy, or affordable housing. Henry Grabar makes a compelling case for how city-mandated minimum parking requirements make affordable housing so expensive to build and businesses so hard to start, because parking is so costly (as in, $50,000 a stall or more). All this, when most places already have much more parking than they need. I am grateful for the work that the Parking Reform Network is doing to remove parking minimums around the country and let the market dictate how much is needed. Let's reimagine how that space could be used.

As Spokane eliminates parking minimums for new developments, we’re entering a transformative period in urban development. This change opens up opportunities for developers to focus on denser, more sustainable projects without the constraints of parking requirements. For those of us in commercial real estate, this could mean more flexibility in project designs and potentially more affordable housing options. How do you see this shift impacting the market and our communities? https://lnkd.in/gVsuRWtx

Over the past few decades, Bellingham has shifted its policy framework to manage parking more effectively and reduce the oversupply of underutilized surface parking lots. Parking reform supports environmental goals by reducing dependence on vehicles, minimizing impervious surfaces, and mitigating the heat island effect. Bellingham is aiming for a 20% reduction in single-occupancy vehicle use by 2036, but it is not on track to meet this goal. The 2019 Climate Action Plan Task Force recommended policies like creating parking maximums, unbundling parking from rentals and charging separately, increasing the costs to park and increasing parking enforcement— encouraging the City to make alternative transportation modes more convenient and single-occupant vehicle use less convenient. Key initiatives include: 🚗 Fairhaven Parking District, which eliminated on-site parking requirements and introduced paid parking, increasing turnover and availability 🚗 Downtown Plan, which focuses on efficient use of existing parking with public parking structures and metered on-street parking, promoting a walkable urban core 🚗 Old Town Sub Area Plan, which eliminated parking requirements in 2023, sparking renewed development interest . . . #ParkingReform #BellinghamFuture #UrbanPlanning #HousingForBellingham

Transitional Neighbourhood Parking Strategy

Big changes to zoning bilaws have been proposed in Ottawa - With no more minimum parking requirements being at the forefront! Here's what this could mean: These new changes aim to create more green spaces and affordable housing, but could they also lead to parking chaos? Other major cities saw benefits - will Ottawa follow suit? How will this reshape our city? Let me know what you think below 👇 #OttawaRealEstate #ParkingRegulations #GreenLiving