Parking Requirements Result in Several Unintended Consequences
Parking is the single biggest land use in cities. Parking requirements encourage more auto use and have several unintended consequences. To name a few, they increase traffic congestion and air pollution, increase energy consumption, degrade urban design, create urban heat islands, cause faster storm water run-off and consequent soil erosion, increase housing costs and limit home ownership.
Parking Requirement Impacts Housing Affordability
Parking requirements bundle the cost of parking spaces into the cost of dwelling units, and therefore shift the cost of parking a car into the cost of renting or owning a home – making cars more affordable but housing more expensive. Based on typical affordable housing development costs, one parking space per unit increases costs approximately 12.5 %, and two parking spaces can increase costs by up to 25 %. (Litman, Todd. 2021. Parking Requirement Impacts on Housing Affordability.
Victoria Transport Policy Institute.
Housing Brampton, the City’s comprehensive housing strategy and action plan, addresses the role of parking in housing affordability. The strategy proposes that the City undertake a deeper analysis of the impacts of parking requirements and identify policy approaches to mitigate these impacts. These include parking reduction and management strategies to incentivise the housing needed by residents.
Parking Requirements Affect Development Costs
On average, the cost of providing the required parking for office buildings in an underground garage adds 50 percent to the cost of an office building. The required parking provided within an above ground structure increases the average cost of an office building by 30 percent.
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Based on Q4, 2020 construction cost rates - RLB Intelligence and parking requirements - City of Brampton Comprehensive Zoning By-Law