The letter urges the Bellevue City Council to maintain its current relaxed restrictions around parking within a half mile of transit. It provides three key reasons this exemption is important: 1) Mandating parking increases housing costs today and in the future. 2) Requiring parking undermines investments in transit and encourages more driving. 3) People seeking housing and those providing it should be able to decide themselves whether parking is needed or valuable. Maintaining the exemption will reduce housing costs, support transit, and give people options to live car-free near transit.

1. October 13, 2020
Dear Councilmember Robertson,
I hope you are well and finding some upsides to this pandemic. There does not seem
to be a clear end in sight, but I trust you and your family is finding ways to manage
the downsides.
I understand that the Bellevue City Council is considering maintaining its current
relaxed restrictions around parking in Bellevue within a half mile of transit. We are
writing you to urge that the Council maintain this exemption for parking. There are
three key reasons this exemption is important.
First, our growing cities need more housing whatever the results of the Covid-19
epidemic and response may be in the months and years ahead. When new jobs and
prosperity come so will an increase in housing demand. There is a simple fact
about parking spots: they are expensive. A respected study by the Victoria
Transport Policy Institute found that depending on the kind of parking, spots can
cost as much as $300 per month.11 In Seattle, the total up front cost of an average
spot is as much as $20,000.
Who bears these costs? Ultimately the person or family paying rent for
housing. And there is no such thing as “free parking” when it is mandated, “since
1
Transportation Cost and Benefit Analysis II – Parking Costs, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, March 20, 2020, page 12.

2. most of these costs are ultimately borne by motorists through housing costs.”
Simply put, if you mandate parking you are increasing housing costs today and
going forward.
Second, why spend billions of dollars on transit infrastructure to encourage
less driving, then mandate parking near transit stations? A recent study
published in Land Use Policy titled, “Parking behavior: Bundled parking and travel
behavior in American cities,” found that “Households with bundled parking use
transit less, spend more on gasoline, and—when they do take transit—are more
likely to drive from their homes to the transit stop.”2 A requirement to require
parking undermines the environmental and other benefits of reduced Vehicle Miles
Traveled (VMT).
Finally, and maybe most importantly, people who provide housing and those
that need it should be able to meet in the market place and decide for
themselves whether to buy and sell parking spots. A study of renters considering
microhousing found that 86 percent of them made their decision on price and 62
percent because of proximity to transit. 3
The majority of microhousing units in Seattle had no parking, one of the reasons the
housing type cost less. Housing providers were building for a segment of the market
that considers parking to be of limited value (only 23 percent) and who consider
2 Parking behaviour: Bundled parking and travel behavior in American cities, Michael
Manville and MiriamPinski, Land Use Policy, February 2020, from the Abstract
3 The Macroview on Microunits, The Urban Land Institute, 2014, page 44.

3. location (including being close to transit) the most important consideration (97
percent).
On October 26th when legislation is considered, the City of Bellevue should
extend the parking exemption around transit. The City’s current policy will
reduce the costs and price of housing, support the massive investment in alternative
transportation to benefit the environment, and, in the end, give people without cars
and who rely on transit the ability to choose to live in Bellevue.
As of today, every government from the federal, to state, and local has one solution
for housing price issues: more money, more money, and even more money. Where
does all this money come from? The taxpayers of Bellevue. You can support lower
priced housing by extending this exemption without spending a cent of their
money.
Extending the policy would demonstrate regional responsibility, foresight, and
leadership. Not renewing the policy is a much bigger step back than just a half-mile.
Sincerely,
Roger Valdez
Director
Seattle For Growth.