City and County of Denver, CO
12/09/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/09/2024 11:41
Denver Unveils Plan to Update Parking Requirements
Denver Unveils Plan to Update Parking Requirements
Published on December 09, 2024
DENVER, CO - Today, the City and County of Denver unveiled the Modernizing Parking Requirements project to reduce city time reviewing development applications, promote housing construction, and give building projects the flexibility to build the number of parking spaces they deem necessary, based on market conditions. The project would remove minimum parking requirements from development regulations, which now require a minimum number of parking spaces based on the proposed use and zone district of the development.
Currently, minimum parking ratios don't apply to single-unit homes, accessory dwelling units, or certain neighborhoods downtown. Some affordable housing developments already have reduced parking requirements. This proposal would remove minimum parking requirements across the city in an effort to incentivize more housing production, reduce city permit review times and let the marketplace determine the necessary number of parking spaces. Along with easing rules for new construction, proposed changes would also simplify the process for businesses moving into existing vacant buildings.
"Making Denver more affordable for all Denverites means breaking down barriers and making it easier to build housing in our city," said Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. "This is a market-based solution that will help deliver our goal of a Denver that is truly affordable for working families without impacting parking needs for our residents."
Denver's zoning code currently requires that a minimum number of parking spaces be provided for various land uses in the city. For example, market-rate apartments require one parking space per dwelling unit while restaurants require nearly four parking spaces per every 1,000 square feet of indoor space. Developers typically build more parking than is required to ensure their projects are attractive and competitive. These conditions can make housing more expensive because each structured parking space costs as much as $50,000. It can also lead to fewer housing units because space that could be used for housing is instead used for parking, a reliance on cars as a means of transportation, more traffic congestion and air pollution, and administrative burden for both the city and developers. Providing flexibility by removing minimum parking requirements would make for a more efficient building projects and lead to better outcomes.
Through this proposal, the city anticipates reducing the amount of time staff spend annually on parking administration by hundreds of hours, sharply cutting the time it takes to review development applications. Development applicants will also no longer have to spend hundreds of hours calculating whether they meet parking requirements.
The proposal is a joint project led by Community Planning and Development (CPD), Department of Transportation & Infrastructure (DOTI), and the Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency (CASR).
"This is another example of how we continue to reduce permit review times and streamline our regulations to better serve Denver residents and businesses," said Manish Kumar, Executive Director of Community Planning and Development. "This fix would allow our staff and residents to focus on project priorities instead of spending hundreds of hours reviewing complicated parking regulations. This gives residents more flexibility while still providing the parking Denverites need."
While some building projects provide the minimum amount of parking required, many provide significantly more. Some examples include 1901 Lawrence Street, an office building that provided 633 parking spaces when zero were required, and 600 Park Avenue, a multi-unit dwelling with 230 units that provided 217 parking spaces when zero were required, and 1145 South Broadway, a multi-unit dwelling with 470 units that provided 691 parking spaces when 428 were required.
The city is also updating its Transportation Demand Management requirements to ensure that residents, employees, and visitors still have transportation options to access new developments and help to minimize their parking demand through such programs as offering subsidized transit passes and supporting car share opportunities.
This project is part of Denver's compliance with state legislation passed this year that requires municipalities to stop enforcing minimum parking requirements for multifamily residential development and adaptive reuse of buildings that will be at least 50 percent residential if they are within a quarter-mile of most transit routes. Denver and other cities must comply with this legislation by June 30, 2025.
The project will be discussed before Denver City Council at its Budget and Policy Committee meeting on Monday, December 9.
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