https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/02/austin-minimum-parking-requirements-housing-shortage/
Austin on Thursday became the largest city in the country to stop requiring new developments to have a set amount of parking — a move aimed at both fighting climate change and spurring more housing construction amid the city’s affordability crisis.
The Austin City Council voted 8-2 Thursday to wipe out minimum parking requirements for virtually every kind of property citywide. That includes single-family homes, apartment buildings, offices and shopping malls.
Housing advocates, developers and climate activists across the country have increasingly targeted such rules. They say parking requirements — often referred to as “parking minimums” — drive up housing costs while enabling dependency on cars, a major source of carbon emissions.
“I think that it's hard for reasonable people to really defend those mandates anymore,” said Tony Jordan, co-founder of Parking Reform Network.
Getting rid of the requirements has its detractors. Neighborhood groups opposed to such reforms tend to worry that parking will spill over onto neighboring streets and clog traffic.
“Although I think that our existing parking requirements do need reform and there are many scenarios where I would relax or eliminate parking requirements, this universal elimination of requirements is a step beyond what I consider to be prudent,” said City Council Member Alison Alter, who voted against the measure. “I'm concerned that there will be unintended consequences in scenarios that create real problems for navigating areas where residential uses abut commercial uses, particularly in areas that have older, narrow streets.”
Getting rid of the requirements doesn’t mean the city is abolishing parking altogether, Qadri said. Developers still can decide how much parking they need, he said. And the city will still require properties to comply with federal law and build accessible parking spaces for people living with disabilities.
“If we truly want to achieve our progressive goals of making Austin a less car-dependent city, we cannot be forcing developers to provide car storage in every single new project that goes up in our city limits,” Qadri said.
Nixing parking minimums is one component of a multi-pronged effort to relax rules that many say get in the way of adding housing in a city where home prices and rents remain stubbornly high. Austin officials are also weighing proposals to allow up to three housing units in most places where single-family homes are allowed and reducing the required amount of land those homes have to sit upon.