Column: Parking no longer will be required for homes, businesses in much of California - The San Diego Union-Tribune

San Diego and other cities have lifted parking requirements for many residential and commercial properties. Now the state wants to do the same across California.
It may take many years to fully gauge the impact of these changes on housing, transportation and the economy.
But here’s what it means in the immediate future: Whether to provide parking and how much in certain areas will no longer be a government regulatory decision, but a market-based one.
This story is for subscribers
We offer subscribers exclusive access to our best journalism.
Thank you for your support.
For generations, local jurisdictions required new homes and commercial buildings to have a certain minimum number of parking spaces, often depending on various factors, particularly square footage.
The California Legislature this week approved a bill that essentially bans mandatory parking spaces for buildings within a half-mile of public transit. Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the measure.
Supporters say the new law will bolster California’s efforts to combat climate change by reducing automobile traffic and encouraging people to use mass transit. They also contend by not including parking — which can add up to $100,000 per space to the cost of building — housing prices will become more reasonable.
Skeptics have their doubts on both fronts, and some opponents said this matter should be left up to local government, not the state.

Assembly Bill 2097 does not prohibit parking from being included in those designated areas, but makes it a prerogative of the property owner. A city or county could continue to require parking but would have to make a convincing argument as to why that’s in the public interest.
Those agencies would have to submit written findings that determine lifting the requirement would negatively affect meeting housing goals for low-income residents, seniors or people with disabilities. An exemption also could be obtained by showing the new rules would burden existing residential or commercial areas within a half-mile of the development with no parking.
One of the more notable projects that would largely be free of parking is a proposed 37-story apartment tower near Petco Park in downtown San Diego.
The building, by San Francisco-based Cresleigh Homes, would have 443 apartments but only 52 parking spots and six spaces for motorcycles. It would include a “bike lounge” that could store 212 bicycles. The proposal was approved by the planning commission in June.
According to Phillip Molnar of The San Diego Union-Tribune, the project at 611 Island Ave. “is rare in downtown in that it makes a large-scale attempt to attract renters to smaller apartments who would want to forgo a vehicle.”
“While the city has done away with many parking requirements,” Molnar added, “most developers have still decided to include spaces to attract renters.”
Some nearby residents told Molnar they didn’t think many people would want to live without a car, “leading to a parking nightmare downtown.”
Mainly car-free residential projects have their supporters and critics in the building industry, according to housing consultant Gary London of London Moeder Advisors.
The developer of a National City apartment building that was “under-parked” viewed the project as a success, London said. The developer had no problem finding tenants, many of whom took transit, rode bicycles and walked. Some worked from home.
“He has religion,” London said of the builder.
Another developer did not think his building with limited parking in Little Italy worked out well. After surveying the residents, the developer told London most had cars and scrambled for parking. They put up with the inconvenience apparently because they liked the design and location of the building.
The developer said he didn’t have trouble renting the places — no surprise given the tight housing market — but wouldn’t go short on parking again.
“He realized in retrospect that was a mistake,” London said.
A car-free way of life may be embraced largely by younger individuals and couples, but it’s hard to imagine that option being widely attractive to families with children — at least in the relatively near future.
An interesting trend is emerging in which builders are hedging their bets about the viability of providing little or no parking in the future, according to London. They are constructing parking structures in residential buildings in a way that would enable them to be converted to more living units, offices or other businesses down the line.
The availability and convenience of mass transit is key to whether substantial numbers of people in California will abandon their automobiles. San Diego’s public transportation system is widely viewed as inadequate to facilitate such a transition, though it may be in better shape to do that in some places — such as around downtown — than others.
Critics contend a carless existence is easier in high-density cities like New York and San Francisco than a spread-out metropolis like San Diego. That’s a here-and-now view, but any shift in that direction locally will take decades and require existing plans for expanded transit and clustered housing to successfully come to fruition.
Trolley and bus routes largely are designed to link people with job, education and commercial centers, with the recently opened Blue Line trolley extension being a prime example. Meanwhile, more thought is being given to building housing around employment hubs.
Long-range plans call for public transportation to be more available and frequent across the region. But encouraging people to use it also relies on negative motivation: traffic congestion and eventual driving fees.
The latter, in some cases, are envisioned as “congestion fees” to discourage driving, but also something needed to make up for lost gas-tax revenue as the use of alternative-energy vehicles grows. Even discussion of such fees has triggered a significant backlash.
A different take is whether pushing public transportation, as it now exists, is the way to go in the long run.
A lot of people seem certain that part of a transportation mix going forward will be autonomous vehicles. A big part of that vision includes on-demand rental or ride-share vehicles, either through private companies or public agencies. The idea would be to summon a self-driving vehicle for individual trips, sort of a more futuristic Uber or Lyft service.
That would still require vehicles to be stored somewhere, but not at home.
Get Essential San Diego, weekday mornings
Get top headlines from the Union-Tribune in your inbox weekday mornings, including top news, local, sports, business, entertainment and opinion.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Follow Us
Columns