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After the college city of Champaign, Illinois, abolished minimum parking requirements, it saw a meaningful decline in development costs and an increase in both housing density and municipal revenue, a study has found.
Most American cities require developers to install a minimum number of parking spots, although there’s been a recent move to relax parking laws to free up space.
Champaign was an early mover. In 2015 and 2016, it removed minimum parking requirements in the university district and residential areas in the downtown and midtown areas. The aim was to improve housing affordability and make the targeted areas less car-centric.
In the years after the reforms took hold, the number of onsite parking bays built in the deregulated zones fell dramatically, from 108% of the earlier requirement to just 46% — a clear indicating that the prior minimum parking requirements enforced an oversupply of parking, according to the study, which was published in the Journal of the American Planning Association.
Developers could now rely on perceived market demand rather than regulations, which required, among other things, one parking spot for every two bedrooms in a residential development.
As a result of the changes, developers saved between $43 million and $49 million in seven years. It’s likely that this indirectly benefited tenants too, as developers could pass the savings on, according to the study.
Meanwhile, the average residential unit density in the deregulated districts increased by 79% following the amendments. This was because developers could build more housing units on each site as less space had to be set aside for parking — though the removal of open space requirements by the university also helped boost densities.
Finally, Champaign benefited financially since existing parking stock was now used more efficiently and city-owned bays became more popular. The study found there was a 39% increase in the city’s long-term parking permit sales.
The study’s authors suggested that the city could invest these extra funds in pedestrian, cycling, and public transportation infrastructure.
“American cities stand to benefit greatly by relaxing or repealing parking requirements,” the authors wrote.
“Cities that expect resistance to parking reforms can take a targeted and incremental approach, first removing minimum parking requirements in denser areas such as downtowns, transit corridors, and other prime districts where an oversupply of parking is typically being reinforced by uniform minimum parking requirements.
“The case of Champaign demonstrates that a targeted district-scale reform is likely to encounter minimal opposition.”
