San Jose becomes largest US city to ditch minimum parking

San Jose has thrown out the requirement to accommodate cars at housing developments.

The Bay Area’s largest city has become the largest in the nation to abolish minimum parking requirements at new housing projects, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The message to developers: The car is no longer king in a region once centered on parking minimums, concrete lots and commuter sprawl.

The City Council nixed the parking requirements for new developments in a unanimous vote, ditching a post-World War II legacy that turned the South Bay city into one of the most “overparked” municipalities in the state, according to transportation advocates.

The rule was a key stumbling block in San Jose’s efforts to build more housing and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Transit advocates say the minimums have been a major contributor to housing costs because they reduce the number of homes that can be built and hike the per-unit cost of development. A 2020 SPUR report estimated parking garage spots cost $50,000 per space and even more if built underground. Some spots can cost $75,000 each, according to the city.

“It’s an evolutionary moment,” said Michael Lane, a housing policy expert with San Francisco think tank SPUR, of the decision. “It’s trying to make a more human scale and safer city.”

But many residents, particularly in densely populated East San Jose, worry the policy could add to a parking logjam where drivers battle for curbside spots. Eastside neighborhoods face “pretty significant challenges with parking,” said Matt Mahan, San Jose’s mayor-elect, as he called for “good faith” implementation of the city’s move away from parking.

The new policy doesn’t stop developers from building parking lots, but allows them to “rightsize” parking as they see fit. It also doesn’t take away current parking.

No other city as big as San Jose, with a population of 1 million people, has moved to ditch parking minimums citywide.

It’s a huge about-face for a largely suburban community that historically required businesses and developers to provide more on-site parking than any other major city in the state, according to a Bay Area News Group survey.

Under the old parking minimum standards, a new single-family home required two covered parking spots and restaurants were required to create a spot for every 40 square feet, or 2.5 dining room seats, whichever was greater.

A typical Target was required to have roughly 600 spaces, and miniature golf courses needed 1.25 spaces for every golf tee plus additional spaces for every employee.

These parking minimums, mostly unchanged since 1965, are now gone. Instead, San Jose has bicycle parking requirements, including one bike for every two lanes at bowling alleys and at least one bicycle spot for every 800 square feet at restaurants.

— Dana Bartholomew

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Los Angeles

A zoning code can’t change its [parking] spots