FBC Tips: Parking for Walkable Neighborhoods

Residential: Leveling the Playing Field for Small Units

• Be sure your parking requirements are not set by unit, as this discourages small units. For example, where one or two parking spaces are mandated per unit without regard for whether the unit is a one-bed, two-bed or studio, developers will tend to default to the higher return of larger units. Regulating by density also causes this problem.
• Consider removing minimum requirements and allowing the market to decide.
• Be sure to calibrate parking along the Transect.
• Our typical requirements for T3 and T4: studio – 1 or .5/unit, 1 bedroom – 1/unit, 2 bedroom – 1.5/unit, 3 bedroom – 2/unit plus .5 for every bedroom over three.
• For a complete table of parking along the transect by Jeffrey Tumlin, see Form-Based Codes, pages 52-53.

Commercial/Retail

• Within neighborhood main streets and along corridors that have on-street parking, especially in areas where parking podiums are not financially feasible or encourages, allow for 3,500-5,000 sf of retail/commercial without requiring any off-street parking. If transit is present, consider allowing up to 2,000 sf of residential without requiring any off-street parking.
• Make sure that changes in uses in main street environments do not trigger new or additional parking requirements, thus prohibiting the evolution of the area and making it very hard for uses such as restaurants to be viable options.
• Count on-street parking adjacent to a lot toward parking requirements.