How Long Can a Car Be Parked on a Residential Street in Nyc
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| AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANNING OFFICIALS 1313 Due east 60TH STREET — CHICAGO 37 ILLINOIS | |
| Data Report No. 214 | September 1966 |
Parking in Residential Areas
Download original report (pdf)
Prepared past Gail Ornstein
The average machine is in movement only a pocket-size percentage of the time. During the remaining time it is stationary, parked somewhere along a street or off the street on a lot or in a special parking facility. While stationary, the car requires a certain amount of infinite for storage and accessibility; the problem lies in finding this space.
The specific aspects of this problem vary from one urban center to another, between different areas within a city, and from one hour to the adjacent. The hours of peak demand and the length of fourth dimension that a car remains in a parking space vary; so do the facilities provided to meet this demand. What does not vary, all the same, is the gravity of the problem. As the number of cars multiplies, parking needs preempt increasing proportions of urban space, and more and larger parking areas have to exist provided for every state use.
This study is primarily descriptive; it surveys current practices and standards. It offers neither a "pat" solution to the parking problem nor standards for off-street parking requirements. It is concerned with the parking problem in residential areas. Information technology discusses the residential parking trouble, as it exists in older residential areas and in newly developing residential districts, the extent to which this differs from not-residential areas, and the need for appropriate public action. Near importantly, the study summarizes the provisions for off-street parking in selected zoning ordinances.
Characteristics of Residential Parking
That parking in residential areas has certain unique characteristics is evident from a comparing between parking in residential and not-residential areas. In the first place, parking in residential areas consists of more than than merely providing an adequate number of parking spaces; it involves finding the proper place to park cars. Nigh of the newer residential areas are developed at a sufficiently low density to provide needed infinite along the street. This contrasts with non-residential areas (and with some older residential areas, especially in the fundamental city) where the intensity of development is so loftier that curb space is clearly inadequate and off-street parking is a necessity. Yet off-street parking requirements apply specifically to new residential development. And, they are often prompted past reasons other than the corporeality of curb space or the width of streets. One reason for off-street parking requirements is community advent — or the desire to go on cars out of sight and to keep the environment attractive. Another reason is a concern for prophylactic; streets cluttered with parked cars may be hazardous. Since off-street parking requirements in residential areas are based mostly on community sentiment, the requirements oftentimes seem arbitrary to the outside observer. The fact is that no standards are universally valid, and each community must determine for itself to what extent adjourn parking is adequate and to what extent off-street parking should be required.
A second characteristic of residential areas is that the required parking infinite is related to machine ownership. In non-residential areas, all the same, space is provided for all cars used to reach them — by customers, employees, visitors. In residential areas, the use of the cars is largely irrelevant. I significant result of this difference is that the availability of mass transit facilities in any residential area has piffling impact on parking needs; a person may utilise attainable mass transit to get to work, only he still may own a car for other reasons. Therefore, the average number of cars per family unit in an area served past mass transit may differ simply slightly from the average in an area which has little or no such service. Another result is that residential parking is aimed at satisfying the "long-term" parking demands of car owners, not the "short-term" demands of visitors and commercial vehicles. The need in residential areas for overnight parking is indeed greater than in commercial or not-residential areas, with the elevation need occurring between the hours of ii:30 and five:30 a.m.fifty Often the curt-term need is completely ignored. Visitors are left to their own devices; it is expected that they volition find infinite along the curb or will pay for space in a garage or parking lot. Where apartment buildings provide free off-street parking, the visiting commuter is invariably greeted past a sign: For Residents Only. Information technology is also causeless that commercial vehicles, which remain in one place for only a curt menses of fourth dimension, will find space along the curb or, if necessary, will double-park.
A third feature of the parking problem in residential areas which is not axiomatic in non-residential areas is the business over devoting too much residential country to parking, the concern over the possibility that the area will be dominated by parking spaces, on and off the street. While the sight of cars parked here and yon may exist displeasing, and so is the sight of nifty expanses of cobblestone. And an off-street parking requirement which eliminates 1 eyesore may inadvertently create the other. An example is Berkeley, California, where, because of a ban on overnight on-street parking, homeowners began paving their front lawns. At kickoff they were able to do this without a metropolis let, but soon an ordinance was adopted to command the location and size of these "off-street parking facilities."
A possible solution is suggested by the approach of the Cincinnati zoning ordinance. Cincinnati attacked the problem of besides much asphalt past giving builders an incentive to locate required off-street parking within the structure:
Where part of all of the off-street parking spaces required for a multi-family dwelling are provided within the principal edifice, the minimum lot surface area per dwelling unit specified in Tables A and B may be reduced by a maximum of twenty per cent (20%), in accordance with the following formula:
x 20%, where a = the number of spaces provided within the main building, and
b = the number of spaces required for the multi-family dwelling.
(Sec. 503.3)
Other communities have tried to prevent single-family districts from being dominated by parking garages by limiting the number of spaces permitted in a garage attached to a single-family home. For example, Middletown, Connecticut, prohibits more than than four cars per garage in a restricted residence zone and more v cars in a full general residence zone; and Warren, Michigan, limits the number of permitted vehicles to three.
Existing Versus Future Evolution
Public measures to deal with parking needs differ for existing and hereafter residential evolution. A customs may ensure adequate parking for hereafter developments (or for new structures in existing areas) but past including appropriate requirements in its zoning ordinance. The situation is not so clear-cut for existing residential areas, i.east., areas which were built up earlier parking requirements became common in zoning ordinances or earlier car buying reached present-day proportions.
In that location are at least three factors which make alleviation of the parking shortage in developed residential areas difficult. First, zoning provisions apply simply indirectly in these areas because ordinances usually specify that existing properties exercise not become non-befitting if they neglect to meet current parking requirements. The situation is farther complicated by the scarcity of vacant space available for off-street parking in these areas. This is especially true of apartment districts adult around the turn of the century at a density much higher than is now generally good in suburban areas. This scarcity exists despite the fact that automobile ownership tends to be lower in these flat districts than in single-family districts. An commodity entitled "Population Densities and Automobile Ownership in a Metropolitan Area" by Robert C. Schmitt postulates that "the number of automobiles per household is closely (and inversely) associated with households per internet acre and [also with the number of] households in multi-unit structures."2 The third difficulty is that land for off-street parking in medium- and high-density residential districts is expensive as well every bit scarce. Where owners of flat buildings provide off-street parking for their tenants, they often accuse a fee which may be as loftier as $35 per calendar month or even higher if parking is enclosed. Contrast this with suburban communities where lots tend to be large, land values tend to be lower, and off-street parking is provided free of charge equally a matter of course.
Nevertheless, with the increasing reliance on automobiles, there is little reason to believe that in the time to come people will be willing to forego the convenience of owning a car for the dubious privilege of living in the central city. Thus, if the older parts of our cities are to be fabricated livable for center-income families, the provision of sufficient parking is mandatory.
Although zoning provides only a partial solution to the parking problem in existing residential areas, it does have a function. For instance, the zoning ordinance may permit developers of new buildings to rent or lease off-street space to meet the needs of the residents of nearby property. An instance is the Detroit ordinance which in Section v.1 provides for "the rental or leasing of parking spaces in the rear yard where establish past the Commission to be essential to the public interest as evidenced by a serious need for off-street parking facilities and as beingness not injurious to the surrounding neighborhood." Blessing is discipline to several limitations, including the following: the parking spaces shall be used for parking private passenger vehicles only; the rental of parking spaces shall be restricted to residents of the surrounding neighborhood; access to rental parking spaces shall exist from an aisle only; and open parking rental spaces shall exist hard surfaced with an asphaltic or portland cement binder so as to provide a permanent, durable, and dustless surface. Section seven.12 of the Chicago ordinance provides that "not more than 25 per cent of the accessory parking spaces required for a dwelling, lodging business firm, or a hotel may exist rented out on a monthly ground to occupants of other dwellings, lodging houses, or hotels."
Nevertheless, if the ordinance permits parking space in new buildings to be leased to residents of nearby buildings, precautions should be taken to insure that the property is used primarily for residential purposes and not for parking. Every bit already noted, this is accomplished in Chicago by limiting the number of spaces which may be provided across the corporeality required past the zoning ordinance. In Tacoma, Washington, off-street areas with a capacity in backlog of four parking spaces are designated as public parking areas and bailiwick to the procedures and minimum standards of such areas, including review and approval by the public works section.
Zoning may also help convalesce the parking shortage by making exceptions to the normal regulation that required off-street parking spaces exist located on the same zoning lot as the dwellings served. Vacant lots may thus be converted to parking lots to arrange the needs of nearby apartment buildings. The provision for the R4 through R8 general residence districts in the Chicago ordinance furnishes an example:
. . . all parking spaces required for 1 or two-family unit dwellings, shall exist located on the aforementioned zoning lot as the dwelling served. Parking spaces required for all other uses shall be located on the same zoning lot equally the utilize served, except every bit provided every bit a Special Use; in which instance, uses, other than one or two-family dwellings may be served past parking facilities located on country other than the zoning lot on which the building or employ served is located, provided such facilities are located within 500 feet walking distance of a primary entrance to the use served, except that parking spaces required to serve multiple-family dwellings shall be located within 300 feet walking distance of a principal entrance to the employ served. Off-site parking spaces accessory to a use in [R4 through R8] may be located in an R4 or less restricted district but may not be located in an R1, R2, or R3 Commune.
(Sections 7.12-2 and 7.12-3)
Zoning, yet, proves an inadequate tool to bargain with parking needs in adult residential areas; it tin can permit but not need. This, then, raises the question of using public powers to acquire state and brand it available for parking in these intensively developed areas. Urban renewal seems to exist a peculiarly suitable tool, and in several communities, such every bit Chicago, sites take been cleared, designated specifically for parking, and offered to nearby holding owners at a write-down price. While this method does much to alleviate the parking shortage, it may take unfortunate artful effects. Parking on individual lots breaks up street frontages and, especially at intersections, has a tendency to turn lots into paved wastelands. The visually blighting issue of vast parking lots on commercial areas may thus be repeated in residential districts, and the gain in parking may become an aesthetic loss. Only with sensitive design and consideration of the over-all appearance of a neighborhood can the potentially adverse effects of parking lots exist avoided. The aesthetics of parking lots was the bailiwick of an before Planning Advisory Service Written report.3
A expert case can be argued that since providing parking for residential districts in the fundamental city benefits specific groups, it — like the provision of parking for newly constructed or substantially altered buildings — is essentially a private responsibility. Nonetheless, an every bit skillful case can be made for the contrary view that the precarious position of central urban center residential districts requires that the public provide needed parking equally a municipal service. The difficulty is non in obtaining the country (the utilise of eminent domain), only in financing the acquisition of land and the construction of parking lots. Information technology appears that except for urban renewal subsidies of land write-down, general municipal revenues have not been used to finance residential parking facilities. Parking facilities have been financed through public revenue bonds, to be retired by income from parking fees, or through special assessments confronting properties which will benefit from the facility. Milwaukee provides an example of an unusual method of raising funds to finance off-street parking. A $4 per calendar month special parking fee is required for all-night on-street parking and an amount of money equal to the income from this fee has been budgeted for off-street facilities.
Although the older, built-up residential areas frequently face serious parking shortages non amenable to like shooting fish in a barrel solutions, providing for parking in future residential development can be regulated through zoning. Off-street parking requirements in zoning ordinances are now near universal (although for some districts in some communities no requirements are made). The objective of these requirements is twofold: to prevent a recurrence of the functional obsolescence which has beset areas in central cities and to enhance the advent of the customs past keeping cars off the street. The problem in these areas has a different dimension; information technology is not whether off-street parking should be required, simply how much should exist required. To provide a guideline for communities faced with this question, the following section of the written report summarizes the parking requirements in a number of zoning ordinances. The section also deals with those instances in which requirements are reduced; information technology touches on blueprint standards and mentions special provisions for commercial vehicles.
Parking Provisions in Zoning Ordinances
Tables 1 and 2 summarize residential parking requirements in the zoning ordinances of selected cities. Table 1 includes ordinances which make distinctions on the basis of housing type — single-family unit discrete, duplex, multi-family unit — regardless of the zoning district in which the dwellings are located. Tabular array 2 contains ordinance provisions which distinguish between requirements on the basis of zoning commune regardless of the type of dwelling located in the districts.
Tabular array 1
Parking Requirements past Type Of Housing Spaces/Dwelling Unit of measurement
| Ordinance | Single-Family unit | Multi-Family | |
| 2-Family unit | 3-Family and Above | ||
| Anchorage, Alas. (1964) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Mesa, Ariz. | 1 | ane | 1; except 3/5 when the dwelling unit consists of non more than 1 room and bath and kitchen |
| Berkeley, Cal. (amended to1964) | At least ane | At least 1 | At least ane |
| Chula Vista, Cal. (1964) | 1 ½ ; except in R-one: 2 (one in a garage) | 1 ½ | 1 ½ |
| Fremont, Cal. (1964) | 1 | i | 1 ½ |
| Fresno, Cal. (1960) | 1 in a garage or carport | one in a garage or carport | 1 in a garage or carport |
| Livermore, Cal. (amended to 1965) | ane covered space | i covered infinite | 1-1/three (i covered, the other 1/3 may be uncovered) |
| Los Angeles, Cal. | 1 on same lot | 1 on same lot | six or less abode units: 1 on aforementioned lot; more than vi home units of more than 3 rooms each: 1 ¼ for each unit of 3 or more than rooms |
| Merced, Cal. (1964) | 1 | ane | iii or less units: 1; 4 or more units: l ½; efficiency apartments: 1 |
| Modesto, Cal. (1966) | 1 | 1 | 50 ½ |
| Mount View, Cal. (1962) | Not less than 1 in a garage or carport and 1 parking infinite | Not less than one in a garage or carport and 1 parking space | dwelling units having ii or more than rooms in improver to kitchen and bathroom: 1 in a garage or carport and 1 parking infinite domicile units having less than2 rooms in improver to kitchen and bath: not less than one in a garage or carport and ½ infinite |
| Oceanside, Cal. (1964) | one | 1 | 1 |
| San Francisco, Cal. (amended to 1964) | 1 | 1 | i |
| San Jose, Cal. (1964) | 1 | 1 | ane; Key City: ¾; R-3-A: l ½; R-3-C: 2 |
| Santa Barbara, Cal. (amended to 1960) | 2 | l ½ | fifty ½ |
| Torrance, Cal. | Not less than 2 nor more than than iii in a private garage on same lot | Non less than 2 in a private garage on same lot for each duplex | i in a private garage on same lot and ½ space in a garage or open up surface area |
| New Canaan, Conn. (1964) | 1 | 1 | l ½ |
| New Haven, Conn. (1963) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Sioux City, Iowa (amended to 1963) | one | one | 1 |
| Evanston, Sick. (1960) | ane and 1 per two roomers or lodgers merely no more than than 4 unless located inside xxx' of an alley with admission | Not less than ane nor more than 2 and i per 2 roomers | Dwelling, attached: non less than ane nor more than than two; Others: 1 |
| Lombard, Ill. | Not less than 1 nor more than 4 on the same lot | Non less than one nor more than 2 on the aforementioned lot | At least 1 |
| Detroit, Mich. (amended to1963) | 1 | one | 2 stories or less: ¾; Over 2 stories: ½ |
| Purple Oak, Mich. (amended to 1960) | 1 and one per ii roomers | one and 1 per 2 roomers | ane and 1 per ii roomers |
| Warren, Mich. (July 21, 1960) | ane on same lot | i on same lot | 1 ½ |
| Duluth, Minn. (1958) | all dwellings three stories or less: i | multiple dwellings over three stories: two/iii | |
| Rye, N.Y. (1964) | ane | 1 | 1 ½ |
| Durham, N.C. (amended to 1964) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Cincinnati, Ohio (1963) | 1 | i | 1 |
| Shaker Heights, Ohio (amended to 1960) | 1 in a private garage | one in a private garage | 1 in a individual garage and ½ infinite per dwelling unit of measurement which may be outside |
| Scranton, Pa. | ane | one | ane |
| Wilkes Barre, Pa. (amended to 1960) | ane | i | 1 |
| Cranston, R.I. (1966) | 1 plus one per rental room | 1 plus 1 per rental room | 1 plus 1 per rental room |
| Memphis, Tenn. (amended to 1966) | ane | ane | i |
| Nashville, Tenn. (1962) | habitation structures with 1 to 4 units: ane | Over 4 units: 1 for each dwelling unit of measurement up to 20 units and infinite for each dwelling unit over twenty | |
| Austin, Tex. (amended to 1959) | ane | one | 1 |
| Corpus Christie, Tex. (1964) | 1 | one | 1 |
| El Paso, Tex. (1962) | 1 | 1 | ane |
| Lubbock, Tex. (amended to 1965) | 1 | 1 | 1 ½ |
| Ogden Metropolis, Utah (1964) | 1 | i | one ¼ and 1 per 2 paying guests |
| Alexandria, Va. (1963) | 1 | 1 | 1 bedroom: 1; 2 bedrooms: 1 ¼ 3 or more bedrooms: i ½ |
| Lynchburg, Va. (1964) | 1 | i | ane |
| Portsmouth, Va. (1962) | one | ane | 5 stories or less: 50; over 5 stories: 1 ¼ |
| Seattle, Wash. | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Milwaukee, Wis. | 1 | i | 3 stories or less: 1; iv or more stories (except multi- family dwellings having less than two bedrooms in B and B-1 districts): 2/3 |
Table 2
Parking Requirements Based on Zoning Commune
| Ordinance | Single-Family Districts | Multi-Family Districts | ||
| District | Requirement (Spaces/DU) | District | Requirement (Spaces/DU) | |
| Claremont, Cal. (1964) | A-1, R-A, R-E, R-S, T-1 | 2 in a garage or carport | R-2, R-2A, T-2, T-3, R-3, R-3A, C-P | 1 1/iii; one must be in a garage or carport |
| Palm Springs, Cal. | R-i, R-3 | 2 | R-2, R-3, R-4 R-K-A | 1 i/10 one i/x and1 for the second bath and each additional bath |
| Palo Alto, Cal. (1963) | RE R-ane | 2 spaces; 1 of which must exist covered 1 covered | R-Dup (Two-family) R-2, R-3-G, R-three, R-3-P, R-iv, R-5 | 1 ½ in an enclosed garage 1 covered |
| Richmond, Cal. (1961) | R-1 CR (predominantly open country) | one on same lot two | R-Medico R-two, R-3 | one ½ 1 on aforementioned lot |
| Sacramento, Cal. (1964) | R-fifty, R-2, R-3 | i | R-4, R-5 | ¾ |
| Washington, D.C. (amended to 1960) | All districts | i | R-5-A R-5-B R-4, R-v-C R-5-D, SP | one ½ 1/3 ¼ |
| West Palm Beach, Fla. (1964) | R-1 | ane | R-2(Two-family) R-three, R-4, R-v, R-6 | 1 1 |
| New Orleans, La. (January 1966) | A | 1 | B C, D | 1 1 on same lot |
| Minneapolis, Minn. (proposed 1960) | R-one | 1 | R-2, R-2-A R-two-B (2-family unit) R-A, R-four, R-5, R-6 B1-1, B1-2, B1-three | 1 1 eight/10 or six/ten efficiency units |
| Clarkstown, N.Y. (1955) | R-A, R-A1, R-1 | 2, and spaces for accessory home occupations or agricultural use | R-2, SC | 1 ½ |
| Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. (1960) | SR-20, SR-10 SR-vii.5 | ii, and 1 per roomer or boarder | RB (Ii-family) RC-one RC-2 | 2 and 1 per roomer ii 1 ½ |
| Irvington, N.Y. (amended to 1961) | IF-xl, IF-20, IF-x IF-5 | 2 ane | 2F (2-family) 3F | 1 1 ½ not more than than 2/iii in the open up |
| White Plains, N.Y. (amended to 1963) | R-O, R-1, R-2 | i | R3 (Two-family) R-4, R-4A, R-6 | ane 1 |
| Columbus, Ohio (1960) | R-fifty, R-2, R-three, R-2F, R-iv | ane on same lot | AR-50, AR-2, AR-3 | one not more than 500' abroad |
| Fairfax County, Va. (1964) | All districts | one | RM-l (Boondocks House) RT, RM-2, RM-2G, RM-2H, RM-3 | one 1 ½; 1/three located for frequent in-out vehicular movement |
| Tacoma, Wash. (1964) | R-1, R-ii | i on same lot | R-3, R-four-6, R-four, R-5 | 1 |
The nearly common requirement is one space per dwelling unit of measurement for every type of unit in every commune. In some cities the requirement is raised to one and a half or fifty-fifty two spaces per unit for single-family unit homes, whereas more than ane and a one-half space per unit of measurement is seldom required for multi-family housing. While the requirements for multi-family units usually are lower than those for detached homes, in some instances a requirement of one space per single-family unit abode is raised to one and one-half space for apartments, especially in the suburbs. Some ordinances specify that the required number of parking spaces must exist enclosed in a garage; this requirement seems to exist dictated past the desire to amend the quality of housing rather than to satisfy parking needs. In some cases, the requirements are geared to the size of the dwelling. This is especially true for apartments and is patently based on the supposition that the occupants of large apartments are likely to own more cars than the occupants of efficiency and one-bedroom apartments.
The Federal Housing Administration has included recommendations for off-street parking in its land-use intensity ratings.4 As shown in Table 3, the suggested requirements vary with the intensity of development rather than with the type of housing or zoning commune. The FHA standards are unique in that they recommend a different ratio of parking spaces to dwelling units for residents (occupant motorcar ratio) and for visitors (total car ratio).
Table 3
FHA Recommended Parking Standards*
| State-Utilise Intensity | Number of Dwelling Units per Gross Acre** | Total Motorcar Ratio | Occupant Machine Ratio |
| 3.0 | 4.0 | ii.2 | 2.0 |
| 4.0 | viii.0 | ane.half dozen | 1.5 |
| 5.0 | sixteen.0 | ane.2 | 1.1 |
| 6.0 | 32.0 | 0.9 | 0.eight |
| 7.0 | 64.0 | 0.7 | 0.vi |
| 8.0 | 128.0 | 0.five | 0.4 |
*Table compiled from FHA Land-Utilize Intensity referred to above.
**The size of the domicile unit is set at a uniform 1089 square feet for the purpose of computing land-use intensity.
The zoning ordinances of New York and Boston treat parking requirements in an unusual way. In New York City the number of required spaces varies with the type of facility provided. Where private parking facilities are provided, i off-street infinite per dwelling unit is required in the R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, and R7-i districts. When a grouping parking facility is provided, the requirement is equivalent to the individual requirement in the R1 through R4 districts (ane space per dwelling unit of measurement), just it is reduced to 8.5, 7, 6 and five spaces per 10 dwelling units in the RS, R6, R7, and R7-2 districts, respectively, and to 4 spaces per ten dwelling units in the R8, R9, and RIO districts. A group parking facility is divers in the New York ordinance as "a building or other structure or a tract of state, used for the storage of motor vehicles, which contains more than than one parking space, which has access to the street common to all spaces, and which, if accessory to a residential utilize, is designed to serve more than than one abode unit."
In Boston the number of off-street spaces required for residential uses is based on the floor expanse ratio and is thus like to the FHA approach. Section 23-1 of the Boston ordinance provides the following:
| Maximum Floor Surface area Ratio | Spaces per Dwelling Unit |
| 0.iii or 0.5 | i.0 |
| 0.8 or 1.0 | 0.9 |
| 2.0 | 0.7 |
| 3.0 | 0.6 |
| 4.0 | 0.five |
| 5.0 | 0.four |
In establishing standards for off-street parking, two factors should be kept in mind. One is the increment of multi-auto households. According to the Automobile Manufacturers Association, the number of multi-car households increased from 4.2 1000000 to 11.8 million between 1956 and 1965, or from eight.8 per cent of all households to 20.6 per cent. The largest number of multi-car households is found in the suburbs.5 Terminal year alone the increase was 1,650,000 households; in the hereafter multi-car buying may become the standard rather than the exception.
The other factor in establishing standards concerns the consequence of requiring besides much off-street parking infinite. This affects the density of flat building development. The college the parking requirement, the more land consumed by parking and the less land bachelor for the building and open up space. It besides affects the density at which unmarried-family houses can exist developed. The college the parking requirement, the larger the lot needed to accommodate both house and parking area. Requiring too much space may as well create a residential district which is dominated by parking facilities.
Thus, in establishing an off-street parking requirement, the fact that car ownership is increasing and more parking infinite is required must exist balanced against the disadvantages of devoting besides much residential country to parking.
Reductions in Parking Requirements
Some zoning ordinances let a reduction in the number of spaces required for dwellings which are located in the primal city or on a pocket-size lot or which are designed for housing the elderly or depression-income groups. In none of these cases does such a reduction seem a recommendable practice.
It is sometimes assumed that downtown residents are less likely to own cars because of their proximity to jobs, shopping, and recreation and because of the availability of public transportation; off-street parking requirements are therefore lowered. In Philadelphia the basic requirement of one space per dwelling house unit, regardless of district, is reduced to one space per ii dwelling units for buildings containing 25 or more units in the "middle city." The Chicago requirement of spaces for lx per cent of the number of dwelling units and 40 per cent of the efficiency units in general residence districts is reduced to 40 per cent of the number of dwelling units in the CBD. Another example is the ordinance of San Jose, California, which requires that parking spaces be provided equal in number to 75 per cent of the full number of units in buildings containing 3 or more units, if located in the "central area"; outside this area a uniform requirement of 1 infinite per unit prevails.
Other off-street parking provisions permit a reduction for pocket-size lots which are developed for residential employ. The requirements are waived entirely in Chicago and Minneapolis for lots 33 anxiety or less in width which are adult for residential purposes, and for which there is no access from an alley. In Sacramento, California, the requirement is waived for 40 by fourscore anxiety "old city" lots. The New York Metropolis provision permits a reduction in the number of required off-street spaces for lots of 15,000 square feet or less.
Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and New York City are among the cities that permit a reduction in required off-street parking for dwelling units intended for use by the elderly. In Chicago the specific number of spaces required is left to the discretion of the Department of Development and Planning. In Cincinnati off-street parking may be reduced to one space per four dwellings and in Milwaukee to one space per 2 dwellings. New York City permits reductions according to the following table:
(Section 25-25)
The New York provision applies specifically to nonprofit residences for the elderly. The provisions from Milwaukee and New York too apply to depression-income housing.
Design Standards
Most zoning ordinances gear up standards for the size, location, and design of the parking infinite too as for the number of spaces to be provided. These standards vary, but merely to a limited extent.
Size. — Usually the minimum size for the required off-street spaces, exclusive of aisles and driveways, is from 160 to 200 square feet with the majority of the provisions requiring a minimum surface area of 180 square feet. This size space accommodates a full-size car. Although compacts and small foreign cars are pop today, reducing the required size of the parking space might consequence in complications if there should exist a turnover in residents or a change in the taste of the motorcar-buying public.
Location. — Nearly zoning ordinances specify that the parking space exist on the same lot every bit the dwelling unit. Exceptions are sometimes made for multi-family housing if the required space is on an abutting lot or if information technology is provided within a specified distance of the building. This altitude varies: in Cincinnati it is 100 feet; in Ithaca, New York, and Austin, Texas, it is 200 anxiety; in Seattle, 450 anxiety; in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, "500 feet walking distance"; and in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, "700 anxiety airline measurement." If the parking area is inside reasonable walking altitude of the building, the parking problem is manifestly combated every bit finer as if the space were provided on the same site.
A small but growing number of zoning ordinances regulate the location of parking spaces on the lot. Some of these prohibit placing a parking infinite in the front yard (Rye, New York; Chicago, Illinois; New Orleans, Louisiana; Mesa, Arizona). Others prohibit placing it within a given altitude of a lot line (Rye, New York, five feet from the lot line; Denver, Colorado, ten anxiety from the lot line; and in New Orleans, Louisiana, a carport must be at to the lowest degree two feet from the lot line). All the same others regulate the placing of a space in a side g next to a street; Chula Vista, California, prohibits it completely. Springfield, Massachusetts, prohibits locating an unenclosed parking space within 25 feet of a street line or inside 10 feet of any other lot line.
Access. — Information technology is quite common (and rather logical) to crave that a parking space be accessible from either a street or an alley. Many ordinances prepare sure standards for the admission drives, giving minimum widths and surfacing requirements. I such standard, gear up strictly for safety reasons, is that the arrangement of access drives for parking areas designed for more one or ii vehicles permit them to enter and exit the area in forward motion.
Design. — Requiring that all off-street parking spaces be placed inside a completely enclosed garage or inside a carport may be prompted by aesthetic considerations. But it may also be an try to preserve the exclusive quality of an area, and whether this is a proper part of the zoning ordinance is debatable. In any case, it goes beyond solving the parking trouble. An adequate solution to the trouble is to permit required spaces to exist either enclosed or unenclosed if they have "all weather" or permanent surfacing. This prevents the surface area from becoming either a dust basin or a mud puddle depending on the conditions. Some provisions require that a space or a lot that is to adjust a number of vehicles be screened. The provision of Berkeley, California, deals with this design element quite completely:
In whatever R District, whatsoever off-street parking surface area for iii or more cars shall be effectively screened from surrounding structures and uses, including those uses which face such areas across a street or aisle. Such screening shall consist of a continuous, view-obscuring fence, wall or compact evergreen hedge, which shall exist broken only for egress and access drives and walks. Such fence, wall or hedge shall exist non less than iv feet nor more than than 6 feet in elevation. No fence, wall or hedge designed to screen a parking area shall project into any required front, side, or rear yard which abuts a street, or closer than v feet from the belongings line, whichever is less. . . .
(Section 15.6 (P))
Special Restrictions
While most cities are anxious to provide for sufficient off-street parking in their zoning ordinances, they practice not appear equally anxious to regulate the blazon of vehicles which may be parked in residential areas. Notwithstanding, some communities seem to feel that certain types of vehicles, peculiarly commercial vehicles (trucks) and trailers, are incompatible with residential development.
Commercial Vehicles. — Most zoning ordinances do not specifically mention the overnight parking of commercial vehicles in residential districts. Of the ordinances which exercise regulate such parking, the more than stringent ones prohibit it completely while the more lenient ones place a limit on the number and size of the vehicles permitted. The usual provision designed to control the parking of commercial vehicles in residential areas allows the parking of at least i lite-weight truck per dwelling unit. This is credible from Table 4.
Trailers. — Every bit with commercial vehicles, merely a few ordinances regulate the overnight parking and storage of travel trailers and mobile homes on residential lots. And among those which exercise have provisions there is fiddling consistency: some prohibit such parking; others permit information technology. Zoning ordinances which permit the storage of trailers on a residential lot usually place certain limitations on it. Some limit the number which can exist stored. Some require that the trailer exist "parked or stored within an enclosed garage or accompaniment building" (Montgomery Canton, Ohio, 1958) or "behind planting of a sufficient height to shield information technology from view from bordering backdrop" (Pima County, Arizona, 1964). In either case, the view created might be more unattractive than that of the trailer itself. Some ordinances regulate the location of a trailer on the lot; in Merced County, it must conform to the setback requirements; in Pima County, information technology must be placed on the back half of the lot; in Warren, Michigan, it must be located 10 feet from any dwelling or property line.
Table 4
Regulations of Commercial Vehicles from Selected Zoning Ordinances
| Ordinance | Prohibited in Residential Districts (Per Domicile Unit): |
| Mesa, Ariz. (1962) | the parking of more than one vehicle of more than a 1-1/2 ton capacity |
| Fontana, Cal. (1957) | more than ane vehicle of over a 2 ton capacity (3/4 ton or larger truck must suit to set-back requirements) |
| Mount View, Cal. (1957) | commercial vehicles exceeding a 3/iv ton capacity stored in a required open up space or yard |
| Denver, Colo. (1957) | vehicles over 3/4 ton chapters having wheels over 17 inches in R-O, R-1, R-2, R-three and R-4 Districts |
| Middletown, Conn. (amended except by special permit to 1964) | 1. in the general residence zone, commercial vehicles ii. in restricted residential zones, commercial trucks in garages |
| New Canaan, Conn. (1964) | the maintenance and storage of more than than 1 commercial vehicle over 1 ton capacity |
| Rockville, Md. (Proposed) | more one commercial vehicle of over a 3/four ton capacity unless parked in a garage |
| Warren, Mich. (1960) | more than i commercial vehicle of over a 3/4 ton chapters unless parked in a garage |
| Northvale, N.J. | more than i commercial vehicle of over a 1 ton capacity |
| New Rochelle, N.Y. | commercial vehicles |
| Washington Twp., Ohio | trucks unless parked in a completely enclosed garage |
| Warwick, R.I. (1958) | commercial vehicles having a capacity of more than 2 tons or more than 3 axles shall be stored, parked or garaged in a Residence District |
Commercial Parking Lots
Some zoning ordinances provide for parking lots which are accessory to uses in non-residential districts. Such lots are designed to fulfill the role of a buffer between residential and non-residential districts (although information technology may not be more agreeable to alive next to a parking lot than to a shop or office building). The space is usually provided for the customers and employees of the employ to which these lots are accessories, not for the nearby residents. The hours during which these facilities tin remain open indicates this.
The Minneapolis ordinance is illustrative. Information technology allows automobile parking lots as a "transitional use" in R1 districts which are "accessory to a business concern or commercial utilise, and solely for the use of employees and customers of the use to which it is accessory"; provided further:
- that such parking lot shall be used solely for the parking of rider automobiles;
- that the parking lot shall exist airtight between the hours of ten P.Thousand. and 7 A.M. except as specifically authorized in the provisional use let.
- that each entrance and go out to and from such parking lot shall be at least twenty (twenty) anxiety afar from whatever adjacent belongings located in whatsoever Residence District, except when ingress and egress to and from the parking lot is provided from a public alley or public way separating such residence areas from the parking lot.
The Chicago ordinance permits equally special uses commercial parking lots in residence districts on lots not over 75 feet wide as long as they adjoin at a side lot line a business organisation, commercial, or manufacturing district or railroad right-of-way; are accompaniment to a business concern, commercial, or manufacturing apply located within 500 feet; and are solely for the use of the employees and customers of the utilise to which they are accessory. The residence "A" district of the Dearborn, Michigan, ordinance permits "a parking space for the parking of not-commercial vehicles, or commercial motor vehicles weighing non more than 4,000 pounds, if operated by customers of business in adjoining concern districts, equally an accessory use to such adjoining concern district, merely not further than 125 anxiety measured at right angles from the residential holding line adjacent to such business district." (Section 501.121)
Conclusions
Parking is non an isolated problem: information technology is intimately connected with traffic problems and with highway structure. All the same, in residential areas, it is a problem which can be attacked individually.
In the older, more densely adult residential areas, parking can exist an especially vexing problem, the consolation of which calls for the development of off-street facilities. These should be located either on vacant lots or, if necessary, on land specifically cleared for this purpose. Information technology should be remembered that the power to achieve this resides in municipal authorities not in private individuals or groups.
In newly developing areas where the parking problem is mainly potential, information technology can exist combated through the zoning ordinance. In these areas, off-street parking space should exist required in amounts which will accommodate residents' cars and meet company and other short-term parking demands. This parking should be provided in a manner that volition not mar the character of the neighborhood, which may mean regulating certain design elements of the off-street space, limiting the size and number of sure types of vehicles, and controlling parking along the curb.
A parking trouble, whether potential or bodily, exists in all residential areas. Its specific manifestation varies from one expanse to another, as do the means for solving it.
Footnotes
i. Preliminary Report on Residential Parking, prepared by the Pennsylvania Economy League, 1962. p. ane. And, Multiple Residential Parking Needs Study, San Diego Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, p. 3.
two. Robert C. Schmitt, "Population Densities and Automobile Ownership in a Metropolitan Area." Journal of the American Institute of Planners, November 1961, p. 332.
3. American Gild of Planning Officials. Parking Lot Aesthetics, Planning Advisory Service Report No. 190, September 1964.
iv. Federal Housing Administration, State-Apply Intensity, pp. 8 and 15.
five. Automobile Facts and Figures, Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc., 1966, p. 41.
Bibliography
American Lodge of Planning Officials. Planning Advisory Service Reports.
No. 57. Zoning for Parking Areas in and Near Residential Districts. September 1953. 24 pp.
No.182. Off-Street Parking Requirements. January 1964. 20 pp.
No.190. Parking Lot Aesthetics. September 1964. 16 pp.
Arcadia, California, Planning Section. Off-Street Parking Requirements in Zone R-3. Planning Department, 240 W. Huntington Bulldoze, Arcadia, California, May 16, 1962.
Car Facts and Figures. Car Manufacturers Clan, Inc., 320 New Eye Building, Detroit, Michigan, 1966.
Baker, Geoffrey,and Funaro, Bruno. Parking. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1958.
Federal Housing Administration. State-Use Intensity. Land Planning Bulletin No.vii, Federal Housing Administration, Washington, D.C. 20411.
Griselle, Sherman Westward. "Parking Related to Residential Development," Urban Land, Apr 1965, pp. 7-8.
Lewis, Harold One thousand. A New Zoning Programme for the Commune of Columbia (Concluding Report of the Rezoning Written report). November 9, 1956.
Needs and Opportunities for Coordinating Renewal and Transportation Improvement. Prepared for the City of Chicago Community Renewal Program by Barton- Aschman Assembly. Inc., August 1963. Pp. 73–77.
Off-Street Parking Programme, Urban center of Barstow. California, 1961. Prepared by D. Jackson Faustman, 2415 L Street, Sacramento 16. California.
Preliminary Report on Philadelphia Residential Parking. Prepared for the Council of the City of Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania Economy League in association with the Bureau of Municipal Research. Liberty Trust Edifice, Philadelphia vii, Pa. Baronial 1962.
San Diego, California, Department of Transportation and Traffic Technology. Multiple Residential Parking Needs Study. San Diego Metropolitan Expanse Transportations Study. October 1965.
Schmitt, Robert C. "Population Densities and Automobile Ownership in a Metropolitan Area," Journal of the American Found of Planners, Vol. XXVII, No. 4, November 1961, pp. 332–333.
Schulman, S. J. "How to Zone for Multi-Family Dwellings." The American City. December 1965, pp. 92-94.
Strauss, Max William. Zoning for Parking. John Westward. Donner Fund Publication No.seven, Schoolhouse of Public Administration. Academy of Southern California, Los Angeles, Cal., 1959. Obtainable from the Academy of Southern California Bookstore, Los Angeles 7, California. $2.00.
Copyright, American Order of Planning Officials, 1966.
Source: https://www.planning.org/pas/reports/report214.htm
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