1) The document discusses how parking policy is an important consideration as Los Angeles transitions to more transit-oriented development. Minimum parking requirements can significantly increase the cost of housing and undermine the goal of building more affordable homes near transit. 2) Experts argue that reducing or removing minimum parking mandates could lower the price of development and allow for more housing units to be built. However, some are concerned this could reduce the number of affordable units constructed. 3) Stakeholders debate how to balance these issues and support transit ridership through transit-oriented development without worsening the shortage of affordable housing. Flexible parking policies and off-site options are suggested as possible solutions.

4. setting the stage: parking policy as Los Angeles matures and
the regional transit system is built
Regional Context Regional Context
Robin Blair (METRO) Robin Blair is something that is essential to the FTA funding Jay Kim (LADOT) Jay Kim is the security, liability, and insurance issues, there
a Planning Director at Metro and the process and to the criteria we are using. So Acting Assistant General Manager could be maximum flexibility in dealing with
Parking Policy Modal Lead for the far, the city of Los Angeles and the surround- for the newly re-organized Office of parking.”
2011 Call for Projects. Parking Management, Planning and
ing cities have adopted fairly aggressive land
Regulations with the Department of
use policies which favor transit use.” Transportation. He has over 20 years
of transportation planning and engi-
neering experience from both private
• “Currently the renaissance of rail raises
and public sectors.
“ “
the issue of land use, which is the most
The five criteria of FTA’s In the U.S. we have built
considered factor for the Federal Trans- • “Because we impose parking require-
portation Agency (FTA) in evaluating any ments on a project-by-project basis and
new funding. In this context, the discus-
sion of parking around transit becomes
evaluation for fund- parking spaces are not designed to be three spaces per each
publically shared, we over-provide park-
important.” ing are the existing land ing. Parking spaces should be shared.” car. In downtown in par-
• “Places like MacArthur Park have well
survived and people gravitated to these
use, the containment of • Regarding shared parking, “every build-
ing will probably need to have some por-
ticular, we have dedi-
areas where they could get around the
city without using automobiles. On the
sprawl, transit supporting tion of the parking dedicated for their use; cated 81% of the land for
corridor policies which parking that translates
but there is huge opportunity still for part
other hand, however, parking require- of that building to have that pool be avail-
are directly tied to park- into 170 parking lots with
ments have actually hindered the revital- able for public use.”
ization or utilization of these old areas.”
• “Parking problems should be approached
• “Transit agencies regard the encourage- ing and parking form, the as a district problem. The ‘just perfect’ only a few parks.”
supporting zones near
ment of transit as the right policy. It would parking supply cannot be obtained based
probably be better that the land uses near on the notion of supplying the average
transit do not demand too much parking.”
transit including parking parking rate. However, if we can create
the framework under which the assets
• “The biggest encouragement to reduce
parking is to create an environment requirements and form, of the private sector could be made into
and the track records of
where there is alternative parking. This is the public pool, and if we can address
01 I setting the stage
performance.” setting the stage I 02

5. Regional Context Site Context
Hasan Ikhrata (SCAG) Hasan Ikh- • “The urban form we will have in the future Stefanos Polyzoides (Moule and Illustration: Del Mar Station Transit Village
rata is the Executive Director of the Polyzoides Architects) Stefanos Pasadena, California
will be based not only on people’s preference
Southern California Association of for housing, but also factors such as energy Polyzoides is a principal of Architec-
Governments (SCAG). Prior to joining ture firm Moule & Polyzoides. His
costs. The future—though not everywhere—
SCAG, Mr. Ikhrata worked for the Los professional experience spans insti-
Angeles County Metropolitan Trans- will be multi-family, small lots, near transit, tutional and civic buildings, historic
portation Authority (MTA) where he and walkable communities.” rehabilitation, commercial projects,
developed a comprehensive Trans- housing, campus planning, and urban
portation Demand Management pro- design.
gram for the MTA.
“
• TOD parking recommendations:
“
• “The nation has experienced a great
In Southern Califor-
The actual space re-
“Neighborhood and District-wide parking
change since the 1960s. In 1960, al-
nia, the demands for
measures (1/4-mile radius); station park-
most half the households were house-
holds with children. Today that number is
ing (street and structure) managed as a
quirements for parking
single-family homes on Park-Once system; high-quality public
are so extreme and the
around 28% and is expected to fall down.
space throughout, particularly connect-
Single-person households grew from
large lots is going to de- ing parking and station; project parking
13% to 34%. The housing, transporta-
ratio maxima, low to begin with and mon- access requirements for
tion, and health care needs in the future
cline significantly by
parking are so extreme
itored over time for use on a shared park-
are probably not going to be similar to
what we had in the past.” about 1 million units; the ing basis; area-wide reduction of parking
ratios over time based on development
that they end up domi-
• “Recent national surveys consistently
demand for multi-fam- thresholds and triggers; in lieu support
revealed the preference of a significant of shuttles to adjacent neighborhoods nating the architectural
portion of people for attached (38%- ily, small lots will go up,
projects, as they emerge
and districts; free parking for businesses
39%) and small lot housing with ameni-
about 0.65 million units.”
under 2,000 sf; obligatory decoupling of
from the various zoning
ties including easy access to transit. But, units and parking for sales and rentals;
people’s actual preference may be very bicycle stations located adjacent to each
different. This makes it very hard for the
region to plan for the future.”
station, and; reduction in street and ga-
rage parking dimensions.”
requirements for various
municipalities.”
03 I setting the stage setting the stage I 04

6. Illustration: MDA Johnson Favaro Architecture & Urban Design academic perspectives on minimum parking: congestion
Typical Commerical Lot
7,500 sq. ft. and the cost of housing, goods, & services
Site Context The True Cost of Parking
Gwynne Pugh (Gwynne Pugh Donald Shoup, Ph.D. (UCLA) Pro- land use ‘needs’ simply by measuring such
Urban Studio) Gwynne Pugh is a fessor Donald Shoup has served as variables as the number of fuel nozzles at a
member of the City of Santa Monica Director of the Institute of Transporta- gas station, nuns in a convent, or reposing
“By-Right” Retail Building
Planning Commission, an urban de- 3,125 sq. ft. (improvements) tion Studies and Chair of the Depart-
rooms in a funeral parlor.”
signer, and a consultant. He has over 12 stalls (4 per 1,000 sq. ft.) ment of Urban Planning at UCLA.
20 years of architectural and design Donald Shoup has extensively stud-
experience. ied parking as a key link between
transportation and land use.
“
• “Each parking stall is about 350 square
feet, if it’s reasonably and efficiently
parked, incorporating the drive way, cir-
• “Los Angeles is following the rest of the
world in reforming its parking require-
For a concert hall in
culation and particularly ramps. A two- ments, it’s not leading. The minimum downtown, L.A. re-
parking requirements are the real barrier
quires, at a minimum, 15
bedroom unit in an affordable workforce
housing project would be 850 square feet. “By-Right” Restaurant Building to density in this city. It isn’t the FAR; it
1,665 sq. ft. (improvements)
However, its parking requirement would
be 2-2.5 parking stalls, which equals to
16 stalls (10 per 1,000 sq. ft.)
isn’t the dwelling units per acre; it is the
minimum parking requirements.” times more parking than
850 square feet. We are not building • “Off-street parking requirements resem- San Francisco allows as
housing; we are building parking.”
the maximum. We built
ble the pseudoscience of phrenology.
• “The not-shared parking, which cannot Phrenologists believed that separate
be leased out and it cannot have other
uses, contributes to part of the parking
parts of the brain were responsible for
such characteristics as benevolence,
the Disney Hall garage
friendship, integrity, neatness, and self- seven years before we
“
problems.”
ishness, and the external features of the
Parking drives what skull predicted these behaviours. This had the money to build
you can actually do on sounds alarmingly similar to the notion
that, without knowing anything about the Disney Hall. San Fran-
lots, rather than what the the cost of parking spaces or the price
charged for using them, planners can
cisco built Louise David
activity we really want to predict how many parking spaces every Hall without any parking
have happen.” at all.”
05 I setting the stage academic perspectives I 06

7. “ The residential parking requirement is go-
ing to reduce the overall quality of hous-
ing and the variety of housing available. Re-
Impact of Residential Parking moving the minimum parking requirements
in turn will give you both more housing and
Mike Manville (UCLA) Mike Manville is a postdoctoral scholar at the Lewis Center for Regional Policy
Studies and the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA. He has conducted research into transportation more variety of housing.”
policy and local public finance with a focus on how parking requirements influence both travel behavior and
urban form.
“ We fight the problem of
• With residential minimum parking require- spent on parking. For people who do two parking spaces for each unit, rather than
ments, housing has to be accompanied drive, this minimum parking requirement more affordable units. The parking require-
by a specific amount of parking spaces. congestion by making functions as a subsidy. For people who ment changes the amount of housing and the
Usually these parking spaces have to be don’t drive, this minimum parking require- type of housing.”
on the same site. “When local govern- it hard to build housing— ment is a penalty. This situation results in • “The provision of off-site parking could be
ment requires the developer to provide
parking on-site with every unit, two things by forcing every hous- less housing and more expensive hous-
ing for consumers.”
one solution to the parking problem: existing
buildings and existing parking may be used
happen: the cost of housing goes up, and
the cost of driving goes down. Cities end
ing unit to make room for • The number of required parking spaces more efficiently, and unbundling parking from
cars. This is both counter-
may lead developers to build fewer hous- rents would be easier. Unbundling is impor-
up with more expensive housing and less ing units than originally intended or per- tant because it lowers the price of housing.”
productive and circular.
expensive driving, resulting in less hous- mitted. “The zoning code just says one
ing, more driving, and more congestion.” has to provide X amount housing, no
• “Most cities prefer to have more hous- It doesn’t solve the con- matter the cost. Parking can be extraor-
ing, more affordable housing, less driv- dinarily pricy. The marginal cost of an
ing, and less congestion. Residential gestion problem and it additional parking space can be two or
minimum parking requirements actively
undermine that goal. Off-street parking makes housing prices three times the original price. Confronted
with the cost of that one space, develop-
requirements take the cost that should be
paid by drivers, which is the cost of park-
boom.” ers may prefer not to build those housing
units. Cumulatively, the city loses a lot of
ing, and it adds it to the cost of property housing, and the price goes up. Also, the
development. The money people spend composition of housing supply changes.
on housing is converted into the money Developers tend to build bigger units with
07 I academic perspectives academic perspectives I 08

8. local examples & expertise: critical analysis
Affordable Housing Affordable Housing
Helmi Hisserich (LAHD) Helmi His- Shashi Hanuman (Public Counsel Law Lisa Payne (SCANPH) Lisa Payne • “Since January 2010 in a really down market,
serich is the Assistant General Man- Center) Shashi Hanuman is the Directing is the Policy Director for the Southern we had 180 affordable units built in market
ager at the Los Angeles Housing De- Attorney of Public Counsel’s Community California Association of Nonprofit rate developments, using the density bonus
partment. Prior to joining LAHD, Ms. Development Project (CDP), which is ded- Housing. SCANPH creates afford-
parking incentive. If reducing parking further,
Hisserich has served as the Deputy icated to building strong foundations for able housing opportunities for low-
Mayor of Housing and Economic De- healthy, vibrant communities in Los Ange- income people by expanding the we should keep some affordable require-
velopment Policy for the City of Los les. Shashi’s work in CDP includes provid- knowledge, capacity, and influence of ments, and even ask for more.”
Angeles and as a Regional Adminis- ing counsel to nonprofit community-based the nonprofit development sector.
trator with the CRA/LA. organizations that advocate for strategies
to preserve and produce affordable hous- • “According to the RHNA numbers, during
• “Around the TOD areas, within the TOD ing. the last Housing Element period (1998
areas and within 0.5 mile each of these -2005), the city of Los Angeles was sup-
“
transit stops, there are approximately • “Between 2001 and 2007, 20,000 affordable
posed to build 17,990 homes affordable
112,000 RSO units that are about 18% homes were built, while 13,000 RSO units
were lost, and 13,000 is actually an under-
to very low-income households, about Transit planners fre-
of our entire housing stock. It’s ready for
quently speak of the
$40,000 dollars per household. The City
the taking. 55% to 70% of renters in the estimation. This cycle we have the same
built only about 4,043 homes, or 21%;
trends. The need is about 40,000 affordable
TOD areas right now are already rent
burdened.” homes. The last housing annual report from
and 218% of housing for above-moder-
ate income households in terms of mar-
need for transit-oriented
• “Reducing parking could decrease the
2009 says that so far we have only built about
500 affordable units, and 180 units were built
ket rate.” development to support
ridership, but what transit
cost of development. However, it under- • “In 2007, nearly 50% of workers in Los
with density bonus.”
mines the current density bonus incen- Angeles made under $25,000 dollars a
stations need is transit-
tives for the provision of affordable hous- • “RSO units have lower parking requirements.
year; over 75% made under $50,000 dol-
ing—we are going to create tremendous Current condo parking requirements are
lars a year. What’s being planned around
amount of gentrification pressure.” higher. Reduction of parking permits addi-
transit stops right now are mainly apart- oriented neighbors who
“
tional units to be built, which makes feasible
will regularly use this sta-
ments for single people and couples
In the 10 years after the
conversions and demolitions. It is not a bad
making over $80,000 dollars per year.
policy, but which can have unintended conse-
opening of the Red Line quences. Reduce parking but do it by ensur-
This is a gap that will not be filled just by
reducing parking or just by building more
tion. I would say they
in Hollywood, land values
ing that people of low income can live near
transit.”
density.” need both.”
went up 562% and rents local examples & expertise I 10
quadrupled.”

9. “ The ARO is the only, single, piece
of legislation in this country to
create 14,000 units of housing from
1999 to 2007.”
Adaptive Reuse Process Issues & Parking Credits
Hamid Behdad (Central City De- Bruce Silberman (Allied Parking) Bruce Mott Smith (Civic Enterprises) 12,003 multifamily units built in L.A. in 595
velopment Group) Hamid Behdad Silberman is the President and CEO of Al- Mott Smith is a Principle for Civic En- projects. 92% were in projects of 50 units or
is the Co-President of the Central lied Parking. He has served as the prima- terprises. His work has focused ex- less. These projects are relatively marginal
City Development Group. During his ry consultant for construction and develop- panding the application of joint-ven-
profit wise. 69% were in projects of 10 units
18 years of civil service, Mr. Behdad ment for numerous clients over his 40 plus tures, mixed-use, and public-private
served three consecutive Mayoral years in the parking business. real estate development models. or less. Our current parking codes make this
Administrations for the City of Los kind of small-scale, workforce development
Angeles. Mr. Behdad brings an ex- impossible.”
• “Historically, Los Angeles has had citywide • “Overwhelmingly it is ‘moms-and-pops’
ceptional breadth of knowledge and
centralized parking. Back in the 1950s, the that own the properties in L.A.’s com- • “This current dysfunctional system benefits
expertise of real estate development,
construction, land use, entitlements, parking commission was formed, which pur- mercial districts. Mostly, they are working land assemblers and speculators, communi-
real estate law, civil and structural chased parking lots in various areas to have families with one or two small parcels. An ty benefits advocates, lobbyists and lawyers,
engineering. centralized parking for future development. ordinance passed in 1990 by imposing city council members and extortionists; while
In the 1980s, the off-street parking provisions different requirements on different uses ‘mom-and-pop’ landowners, small business-
• “Whatever parking exists in any perspec- changed and the parking facility stopped get- created the problem for change of use es, working families, small workforce and re-
tive of adaptive reuse project, let’s main- ting built. The off-street parking is what al- and made entire neighborhoods non- tail developers and community stakeholders
tain that; do not reduce it, but do not ask lowed for the parking garages which could conforming. Discretionary actions have get hurt.”
for additional because these buildings serve as the transitioning. Centralized park- become the norm for changes of use in
simply cannot provide. But for the devel- ing does work.” these areas. They can cost businesses
opers, if they feel the need for the market, $50,000-100,000 dollars and more than
they will do it. Let’s trust the free market, • “There are properties that are available for
a year just for these paper approvals. A
“
let it decide rather than regulating it.” centralized parking, and there is adequate
lot of small business and non-profits that
Because our rules don’t
parking. The City has some 1,500 covenants
• Because of parking provisions of the within the garages that we own in downtown tried to operate in L.A.’s commercial dis-
work for normal parcels
adaptive reuse ordinance, “we created L.A. that are useable for adaptive reuse and tricts failed because there is no good way
14,000 housing units. It is the financing for housing.” to comply with our parking rules at this
structures and certain specific plans that
made 7.5%-10% of those units afford-
scale in L.A.”
-- assembly, exceptions
and ‘creatures of the code’
• “Most infill developers in Los Angeles are
able.” not professional developers—they are
‘moms-and-pops’. In 2006, there were
have become the norm.”
11 I local examples & expertise local examples & expertise I 12

10. Process Issues & Parking Credits
Michael Tharp (Eagle Rock Neigh- parcels large enough to build the surface
borhood Council) Michael Tharp parking that is necessary by code.”
moved to Eagle Rock in 1988. He
was president of The Eagle Rock • “The proposed parking program wasn’t to
Association known as TERA, a rent out parking spaces; it was to rent out
dues paying residents’ association parking credit for those spaces and consider
with over 600 members, from 2005 them all as one area, to allow business to tap
through 2007. He currently sits on into that pool based on their use and pay for
the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Coun-
the use of the credit for the spaces, rather
cil Planning and Land Use Commit-
tee and on the Colorado Boulevard than go through the variance procedure. We
Specific Plan Design Review Board. started to get the small businesses the type
He was President of TERA when the we wanted.”
“
Eagle Rock Pilot Parking Program
If you can’t park in
was implemented.
• “Back in 1988, when I moved to Eagle
Rock, Colorado Boulevard was a fading
front of the business,
boulevard. We tried to come up with a
parking program that would incentivize
that’s okay because you
the boulevard. At that time, a lot of busi- can park somewhere
nearby. And if you walk
nesses complained that the variance pro-
cedures were too expensive and there
was no guarantee of success. Resident
groups were saying that we were de-
two or three blocks, that
stroying our historical buildings in order creates a more viable
to build parking lots for commercial uses;
we weren’t allowing small business en- street life. Other busi- Image: http://blog.andrewsable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/banksy-parking1.jpg
By Banksy, at 9th & Broadway, Los Angeles
trepreneurs coming in but instead en-
couraging only national chains to come
nesses benefit from that
in because they could afford to assemble as well.”
13 I local examples & expertise