St. Paul, MN is the latest major city to eliminate citywide off-street parking minimums in an effort to simplify zoning and facilitate people-centered development. St. Paul city council decided to nix parking mandates last month, meaning that new development will be able to proceed without any requirements for a minimum number of off-street parking spots.
The City of St. Paul had recently completed a parking study which found that it cost developers roughly $5,000 per surface level spot, and structured parking (garage) can exceed $25,000 to $50,000 per spot. City council hopes that the elimination of the mandatory minimum parking requirement will lower the overall cost of development, opening the door to new housing, retail, or office buildings. While developers are still able to build off-street parking, by eliminating requirements for a minimum number of spots, city leaders hope that developers will no longer have to purchase additional land for parking, and customers and residents will be incentivized to use other modes of transportation.
The elimination of parking requirements may also help move St. Paul closer to its goal of reducing vehicle miles traveled by 40% by 2040, and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. Roughly 36% of the city’s total land area was dedicated to parking and roadways, and 31% of the city’s emissions were associated with vehicle travel. Off-street parking occupies a lot of space within cities, pushing other buildings and destinations farther apart to accommodate and store cars while not in use. Limiting off-street parking can be one solution to disincentivize driving while simultaneously creating a more accessible environment to cyclists and pedestrians.
While several cities across the country have reduced or eliminated parking requirements in their downtowns or in certain neighborhoods, Buffalo, NY is widely regarded to have been the first city in the country to eliminate minimum parking requirements entirely in 2017. The City of San Francisco eliminated requirements in 2018, followed by Minneapolis, Sacramento, and Berkeley, CA in 2021. Earlier this year, GOPC reported that the City of South Bend, IN had also eliminated citywide minimum parking requirements.
A number of cities in Ohio – including legacy cities Akron, Sandusky, and Zanesville – have eliminated parking requirements in their downtowns, but none have gone so far as to eliminate the requirements citywide. Read GOPC’s previous blog to find out more about what parking minimums are and why cities may want to consider getting rid of them. If your city has eliminated minimum parking requirements, leave a comment below!