People over parking? AB 1401 aims to remove draconian parking minimums near transit, allowing developers to “right-size” the number of parking spaces.

 

AB 1401 sailed through the Assembly Committee on Local Government with no dissent. Sponsored by Assemblymember Laura Friedman, the bill would remove minimum parking requirements from new housing built in areas where residents have access to recent transit. 

Traditionally, city zoning codes require a minimum number of parking spaces in new developments, but this arbitrary number has seemed to be plucked out of the air without regard to how much parking is actually needed and without an assessment of how much parking is readily available to tenants. 

San Francisco was a pioneer in dumping antiquated minimum parking rules developed in the 1960s. Among the reasons to reform parking requirements in the City was a concern for pedestrian safety by mandating dangerous driveways to be built in densely populated, highly walkable parts of the city and encouraging residents to own their own cars and snarl traffic instead of using BART or using a bike to get around.

Now, Sacramento politicians are tasked with slashing parking rules throughout the state.

Proponents of parking reform got together to tout the benefits of modernizing nonsensical parking edicts in this roundtable discussion.