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Should Washington cities cut down on parking spots required at new developments?

caption: Many parking lots like this one in Lynnwood near the light rail station are being replaced by housing developments.
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Many parking lots like this one in Lynnwood near the light rail station are being replaced by housing developments.
KUOW Photo/Joshua McNichols

How much parking can a city require when new buildings are built, or older buildings renovated?

That's a question state lawmakers will consider at a public hearing on Wednesday.

Today, every city in Washington has its own parking requirements. On the one hand, cities like Bellingham and Spokane don't require any parking when new apartment buildings are built. That's meant to bring down housing costs, since parking stalls are expensive to build.

At a recent public hearing, Bellingham City Councilmember Jace Cotton spoke in favor of a bill that would reduce minimum parking requirements in cities statewide.

“While I'm thrilled that more cities like mine are stepping up to the plate of parking reform, we still need state leadership,” he said.

Then there are city leaders like Mercer Island Mayor Salim Nice, who doesn't like the state stepping in.

“Parking requirements are best tailored by local governments that understands their community's unique needs,” he testified.

Here is what Mercer Island's parking requirements look like:

caption: Mercer Island's current parking requirements for apartment buildings.
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Mercer Island's current parking requirements for apartment buildings.
City of Mercer Island

Mercer Island currently requires two parking spots for every apartment unit.

Senate Bill 5184 doesn't require cities to go as far as Spokane and Bellingham did. But it would cut Mercer Island's required parking stalls by 75%, down to half a stall per apartment.

Mayor Nice told legislators he's concerned that drivers doing gig work for companies like Uber would not have a place to park their cars.

While Nice's point of view was in the minority at the hearing, he's not alone in his concerns about cities losing control of their zoning requirements.

Kelsey Hulse, representing the Association of Washington Cities and Association of Washington Counties, said the two organizations are aligned in their concern that limiting parking could lead to "an increase in the use of shoulder parking, particularly in areas that cannot safely accommodate it."

But city control of zoning is one reason we have a housing crisis today, parking reform advocates argued. Their perspectives were supported by the governor's office, which brought some statistics to the hearing.

"The reality is 50% of all Washington renter households and 25% of homeowner households own one or no cars at all," said Gov. Ferguson's top housing policy analyst, Nicholas Carr. "But in most cities and counties, it's illegal to construct a home with only one parking spot. That means thousands of homeowners and renters are forced to pay for parking that they don't need."

Spokane City Councilmember Zack Zappone had a message for cities concerned about that change.

“With two and a half years of experience, we have not seen terrible effects here in our community,” Zappone said.

The bill would also reduce parking requirements for commercial developments.

Sonja Max, a property owner in Bellingham, spoke of restoring a historic building with busted-out windows that was home only to nesting pigeons. Today, she said it's home to two theaters, a cider company, a bakery, artists' studios, and a dance school.

That complex has only five parking spaces. Max said her family could not have restored the building if the city required more parking than that.

If Senate Bill 5148 becomes law, developers could still offer more parking — if they choose to. Several organizations representing developers said they support the parking reform bill because they could elect to continue including a higher number of parking stalls.

The bill has its next public hearing at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

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