26 August 2023
DULUTH City officials may call an end to telling developers how much parking they need to provide in order to do business in the community.
This week, members of the Duluth Planning Commission heard from Tony Jordan, president of the Portland, Oregon-based Parking Reform Network, who encouraged the city to follow in the footsteps of more than 50 communities nationwide that have done away with parking mandates.
Jordan suggested local developers and entrepreneurs can be relied upon to determine their own parking needs, predicting: “They’ll make smart decisions about their business, because it’s their money on the line.”
“I really encourage people to think about the price of parking, whether it’s the thousands of dollars that go into a surface lot or the tens of thousands of dollars that potentially go into a structured space and what that means for the rents that need to be collected on tenants or the businesses that use that parking,” Jordan said.
He also urges people to think about the large quantities of real estate parking consumes, with a single parking stall requiring 300 to 400 square feet of space.
“I really encourage you to recognize and own the fact that these mandates are arbitrary and they do have a lot of impacts. And what you see in cities that have gotten rid of parking mandates is that a lot of parking still gets built, probably more than I would like. But it does allow for a lot of additional housing and economic development to occur,” Jordan said.
He stressed that if Duluth were to drop its parking mandates, the city would see no overnight change.
“It doesn’t make the parking evaporate or ban new parking from being built. It’s just sort of setting the stage for what’s coming next,” Jordan said.
Planning Commissioner Mike Schraepfer said parking costs can discourage investments in housing and drive up rents. “It’s one way to combat the cost of construction for housing,” he said of proposed parking reforms.
Duluth already has no parking minimums in place for its downtown and in Canal Park. City officials have been exploring greater parking deregulation since January.
Jordan noted that parking comes with trade-offs.
“Recognize that parking is not always a community asset. It does have external impacts,” he said. “There can be water runoff problems. There are potential heat island problems. It does attract traffic to a neighborhood. It can reduce access and walkability, due to curb cuts and additional traffic crossing walking and biking lanes,” he said.
Duluth Planning Commissioner Andrea Wedul noted that the city has five to six months of winter and faces significant snow management issues. She talked about wanting to maintain year-round accessibility.
“So, do you have any real-world examples of people that have removed parking in cold climates, such as ours, where we had 135 inches of snow last year,” she said.
Jordan noted that Anchorage, Alaska, did away with its parking minimums last year, while also addressing snow removal needs. Buffalo, New York, is another snowy city that has eliminated parking mandates.
He noted that local developers will continue to have a vested interest in maintaining good access to their properties.
“We really do want to make sure we get this right for Duluth,” said Adam Fulton, deputy director of the city’s planning and economic development division, as he encouraged planning commission members to consider the various ramifications of the proposed parking policy changes.
Wedul talked about the importance of bolstering the city’s mass transit system if Duluth is going to reduce its dependence on personal vehicles in the future.
Wedul also noted that tourism plays an important role in Duluth’s economy and asked whether reduced parking requirements might jeopardize that business, as most tourists arrive in town via personal vehicles.
Jordan said, “I think the policy is somewhat self-proving. If you change your regulations and you get a lot more business and it brings more people. It’s kind of like the Yogi Berra saying: ‘Nobody goes there. It’s too crowded.’”
“I don’t think people come to Duluth to drive around,” Jordan said. “They come there to go to things, and hopefully not to drive. So, recognize that all the parking you have currently will still be there, and if something gets redeveloped, then you might lose some parking supply. But that is on a case-by-case basis, and the people in that area will probably adapt. Cars are like water they’ll find a place to go.”
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