As developers attempt to meet the parking requirements of their projects, they find themselves beset with obstacles related to zoning, financing, and design, just to name a few. Parking requirements now drive many site designs, and are often the make or break issue for financing new developments. Too many quality smart growth projects remain on the drawing board because they simply cannot solve the parking dilemma. We need parking, but we need to re-think parking design, parking financing, and parking supply and demand to better meet the needs of communities, developers, and users.
This study presents an overview of parking strategies that meet the challenges faced by projects in the context of smart growth. Recognizing the importance of parking in development, it looks for new ways to manage parking supply and demand, to design parking facilities, and to provide financing, offering more, not fewer, options to communities, households and developers. These creative approaches are intended to promote better project design, reduce construction and operational costs, and add value to development projects.
The main sections of this study specifically address these three areas—parking management, parking design, and parking financing. The first section identifies parking management strategies that control the supply and demand for parking. The following section proposes innovative design strategies that reduce the aesthetic and environmental impacts of parking facilities, including on-street parking, surface parking lots, and parking structures. The final section outlines various financing mechanisms and incentives for the construction of both public and private parking structures.
Source: Driving Urban Environments: Smart Growth Parking Best Practices
Published: 2006
