our health and safety, and to identify remedies to implement when parking proves to be inadequate at multifamily building locations. In its letter to the Planning Commission, MCA also indicated that while the vast majority of the recommendations in the Advertised Ordinance are acceptable, these changes are necessary to ensure that residents are not shortchanged as large portions of the County urbanize and that the County as a whole thrives. A summary of MCA’s recommendations is provided below. A more detailed explanation can be found in the attachment to MCA’s August 16 letter to the Planning Commission. (2023-08-21-PZ-Letter Parking Reimagined - MCA Recommendations.)
MCA’s key recommendations are:
Ensure Adequate Parking for Residents in Multifamily Buildings; Go Slow on Rate Reductions for Now; Gather More Data on Real–Life Impacts in the County Before Drastically Cutting Off-Street Parking Spaces. In both its most recent letter and its July 5 Resolution, MCA calls the recommended minimum off-street parking rates for new and redeveloped multifamily buildings in the urbanizing areas of the County too low and disadvantageous to residents of those buildings and a potential source of overflow parking problems for residents in adjacent areas. It urges the Commissioners to recommend an incremental approach and, for now, to recommend only modestly reducing minimum off-street parking rates for multifamily buildings from the applicable current minimum rates for such buildings. It also urges the Commissioners to recommend a follow-on study in 5 years to determine whether further rate reductions are possible, in light of the observed impacts of the adopted lower rates and any upgrades to the County’s transportation and service infrastructure in the more urbanizing areas during that 5-year time frame. The letter also calls for the study to be tasked with determining what additional transportation infrastructure upgrades are needed to facilitate reduced car dependence and potential funding streams and timelines.
Eliminate or Drastically Reduce Unilateral Reductions in Approved Off-Street Parking Rates by County Director of Land Use Services; Protect Residents’ Rights To Have A Say. MCA believes that the rights proposed for the Director of Land Use Services in the Advertised Text to unilaterally reduce minimum off-street parking and loading rates by anywhere from 30-50% cede too much power to the Director. They note that the proposed provisions fail to require the Director to consider the impacts on the site, adjacent areas or citizens (as the current Ordinance does), nor do they establish a mechanism to ensure public notice and opportunities for public comment to the Director. MCA proposes that the Director’s authority be eliminated or reduced to 10% of the Ordinance rates. If the Director retains any reduction authority, it also proposes several changes to address residents’ concerns and ensure transparency in the decision-making.
Use Calculation Methodologies That Are Consistent with Modern Practice and That Protect Our Diverse Population. MCA recommends that standard rounding methodologies be used when calculating off-street parking and loading and when the calculations result in a fractional amount – i.e., round up to 1 when the fraction is 0.5 or larger. Further, in assessing off-street loading requirements and to address the real needs of our less able-bodied residents for accessible parking spaces, MCA requests that commercial and non-residential facilities required to have off-street loading spaces have at least one off-street loading space, in instances where the calculation is below 0.5.
Protect Our Environment When Reducing Minimum Off-Street Parking Rates. MCA proposes that when an applicant requests permission to reduce the number of parking spaces, that the applicant be required to increase open space, tree canopies, and/or landscaping in an amount that is proportionate to any increases in building footprints that the applicant plans to make.
Conduct Follow-on Studies to Improve The Analysis and Update Information Relevant to Providing a Solid Analytic Basis for Future Reductions and Ensuring Real Remedies Exist if Adopted Multifamily Off-Street Parking Rates Are Creating Adverse Impacts. MCA believes that while the Advertised Text and the work underpinning it accomplished a great deal, there are still areas where the analysis could be improved and the data updated so County decisions are not dependent on years-decades old information or information from other jurisdictions. Therefore, MCA recommends that the Planning Commission call for Follow-on studies to acquire data that would: (1) provide greater confidence in future rates for off-street parking minimum requirements for multifamily buildings in Tiered Framework areas (described above); and (2) provide greater confidence that there are feasible and practical remedies that could be considered for implementation pursuant to a Parking Utilization study to address deficiencies in residential off-street parking minimums in shared parking and transit-related areas.