Walkability vs. Parking - The Gordian Knot?

As many communities around our fair state pursue strategies to become more walkable and transit-oriented, we continue to run into the 600-pound gorilla and what to do about it - cars and parking!

Last Wednesday night, at the Salt Lake City Planning Commission meeting, the issue once again became a hot topic.

First, some background.  A few years ago, the mayor and city council took some very progressive steps toward encouraging walking and discouraging car use by generally reducing parking requirements throughout the city.  Things such as exempting the first 2,500 square feet of business floor area from any parking requirement at all, and allowing for reductions in the number of required parking spaces for providing pedestrian amenities such as public benches, bike racks and stroller parking areas, were incorporated into the zoning ordinance.

The areas where this could have potentially the most impact were in the smaller neighborhood commericial areas, like 9th & 9th, 15th & 15th, and so on around the city.  Being so close to or even a part of residential neighborhoods, the potential impact from cars coming to patronize these businesses was apparent.

But, the feeling among many in the community was that if we really want to be a walkable community, we must start doing things to encourage walking and discourage driving.

As new businesses in these neighborhood commerical areas began to take advantage of these relaxed requirements, complaints began to roll in from nearby residents about the cars now parking on the streets in front of their homes as people came to patronize the businesses.

Wednesday night the entire issue erupted again quite forcefully as a new residential development was proposed in the area of 1300 East 2100 South, near the Dodo Restaurant.  Under the city's relaxed parking rules, the new development could count toward its parking requirement up to 9 spaces on adjacent public streets.  Residents in the area, however, gave the PC an earful about the difficulties that already exist in the neighborhood because of the overflow parking from the Dodo.  How were any more cars going to fit onto those streets, they said, and where were the residents themselves and their guests going to park?

The meeting got somewhat heated as a couple of residents stormed out in mid-discussion, and the planning commission was genuinely conflicted, as it took 4 different motions before the project approval was finally resolved.  The commission did instruct the planning staff, however, to come back with presentations and discussion of the city's current parking standards in an effort to try and get some resolution to what has become a very difficult situation.  If you'd like to see what occurred at the meeting, click here, click on the July 13 link, and scroll to about the last 45 minutes of the meeting.

As I've talked to some people about what happened at this meeting, I'm generally hearing two trains of thought:  first, this is simply what happens as a community is transitioning from one style of development to another.  Yes, it is painful for some in this transition as the community transforms and is not fully functional yet for the new style (walkable) that is being sought.  Things will get better, but for now its going to be uncomfortable for some.

The second thought I've heard is, see, just goes to show you, our communities in the west are car-oriented and no matter how hard we try, we will never completely wean ourselves off the car culture.  Reality suggests that we're trying to pound a square peg into a round hole - accept the fact that a significant portion of the community will always travel by car, and plan accordingly!

Interested in hearing your thoughts out there!