16. Mandatory parking distorts urban design
Corner store, 1940 (before
parking minimums)
Corner store, 2015 (built after
parking minimums)
(These stores are one block away from each other.)
17.
18. 18
First comprehensive parking review since 1964
Dramatically reduced inner-urban parking minimums:
• Eliminated parking minima for all uses near major rapid-
transit (LRT) stations
• No parking minimum for low-rise residential/office and
95% of ground-floor commercial on urban mainstreets
• No parking minimum for the first 12 residential units and
up to 200m2 non-res in the inner urban area (=roughly
the built-up area of Ottawa circa 1960.)
• Where parking required, rate is one-half the suburban
rate.
• Near suburban rapid-transit stations, also cut parking
minimums in half.*
*This summary is greatly simplified. Do not use the content of this slide to plan
your project!
19. 19
Consultation
Discussion Paper #1 (May 2015)
• Neutral, 12-page document to
introduce stakeholders to
minimum parking
• History of minimum parking rates
– how they came to be, and why
• Pros and cons (and no
judgments!)
• Present a range of options,
ranging from "keep status quo" to
"abolish all parking minima city-
wide"
• Invite people to send comments
by e-mail.
20. 20
Consultation
Dialogue! (May – Sept 2015)
• Respond to emails
• Talk on the phone
• Meet with community groups or stakeholders one-on-one
• Long, un-bureaucratic exchanges.
• Make people feel that they are just talking to a real person
knows a lot about this stuff, who cares about the same
things they do, and is willing to take the time to discuss at
length.
21. 21
Key message: It's not actually about parking!
• It's about all of the good things
we all want.... but that you don't
(can't!) get if there's a minimum
parking requirement.
• e.g. Walkable streets, supporting
small business, good public
transit, affordable housing,
appropriate intensification,
keeping taxes under control....
• It's not obvious to non-experts
how parking minimums hinder
these goals.
• But once we made the
connection, most opposition
evaporated.
22. 22
Consultation
Draft zoning... and a movie!
(October 2015)
• Draft zoning proposals posted
in Discussion Paper #2
• Updated website with FAQ,
responses to frequent concerns,
etc.
• Also, produced a 90-second
animated-ish video on why
we're changing the minimum
parking rules.
• Video was picked up by Atlantic
Citylab blog & hit 20,000 views
in a week.
23. 23
Consultation
More Dialogue! (Oct-Dec. 2015)
• More discussions (email and phone) about specific zoning proposals.
• Meetings with community associations are with their boards or
planning committees—not the wide-open public meetings
• Keep the meeting size manageable, discussion with relatively well-
informed stakeholders
• Many small meetings instead of one or two big ones = less risk of a
fearful minority hijacking the conversation.
24. 24
Top Three Concerns:
1. Does this mean you're going to prevent
people from having parking (or take away
existing parking?)
2. What about the elderly & handicapped?
Limited mobility means they need to drive.
3. What about spillover parking? If no on-site
parking, that means the streets will be
choked with parked cars, people will poach
neighbours' parking spaces etc.
25. 25
Top Three Concerns:
"Are you going to prevent people from having
parking (or take away existing parking?)"
• No! Parking maximums will be looked at in a later project.
(We know it will be more contentious.)
• But for now, this is only about how much parking you're
required to provide—not how much you're allowed to provide.
• The stakeholders most concerned about minimum parking
are a different group from those concerned about maximums.
• Splitting minimum and maximum parking reviews into two
projects makes everything much more manageable.
28. 28
Top Three Concerns:
"What about the elderly & handicapped?"
• Note the assumption here: "elderly/handicapped = unable to
walk but still able to drive."
• In fact, many kinds of handicaps (blindness, some neurological
conditions, etc.) make people unable to drive but still able to
function otherwise.
• Old age brings lots of surprises. Maybe you can still drive... but
maybe vision loss, diabetes, cognitive decline etc. We need to
provide for those people too!
• Those who really must drive still have an entire post-WW2
cityscape designed for car access.
29. 29
Top Three Concerns:
• Short answer: spillover is way
more complicated than just "not
enough parking!"
• Parking minimums simply pretend
it is simple; supply-side solutions
are at best pyrrhic victories.
• Longer answer: We wrote a
detailed discussion of what causes
spillover parking and included it on
the website and staff report.
"What about spillover parking? If no on-site parking, that
means the streets will be choked with parked cars, people
will poach neighbours' parking spaces etc.."
30. 30
Everybody Loves A Happy Ending!
• Staff report with parking reductions went to Planning
Committee in June 2016.
• Two delegations appeared to comment....both in favour.
• The resulting by-law was not appealed and is in force as
of July 13, 2016.
