What?
- On July 15, 2020 Council directed Administration to eliminate minimum parking requirements for businesses from the Land Use Bylaw
- This means that a business or developer would inform Administration how much parking their project requires instead of providing parking based on a rate located in the Land Use Bylaw
Why?
- Businesses and developers know their parking needs and should be able to determine how much parking should be provided
- The required minimum motor vehicle parking stalls in the Bylaw has resulted in development over supplying parking
- This over supply has negatively impacted quality design and built form, affordability, and encourages automobile use
- Academic studies have shown:
- Reduced off-street parking leads to fewer cars per household.
- Guaranteed parking at home leads to increased car usage.
- Off-street parking requirements come at the expense of on-street parking availability.
- Increases in parking supply cause increased driving mode share in sample cities.
- Most parking requirements amount to little more than a collective hunch.
- Minimum parking requirements systematically over-estimate the need for parking and distort travel behavior.
- Minimum parking requirements are actively detrimental to city building. (City of Ottawa)
- Parking demand is influenced by choice of travel mode (which is determined by cost, convenience, time), demographics, type and popularity of the business, and surrounding context
- The Land Use Bylaw cannot influence these factors
How?
- The minimum parking requirements for commercial uses will be deleted from the Land Use Bylaw
- Barrier free, bicycle, visitor, and loading stall parking will still be required
- Low density, other residential type of uses (addiction treatment centres, assisted living, residential care to name a few) and multi-residential development are not part of this project
When?
- For the month of August Administration will be running an engagement campaign to gather feedback from the public on the proposed changes
- Look for social media, bold signs, and targeted engagement with stakeholders. An Engage webpage is now live (https://engage.calgary.ca/parking)
- Administration will be bringing the proposed amendments directly to the November 2, 2020 Combined Meeting of Council for public hearing and Council debate
Who?
- If your Community Association has specific questions about this project, you can contact Stephanie Loria (Stephanie.Loria@calgary.ca), Tammy Henry (Tammy.Henry@calgary.ca), or Dane Morris (Dane.Morris@calgary.ca) directly