From Vermont to Oklahoma, Legislatures Challenge Parking Mandates

In the 2023 legislative session, more than a dozen US states have proposed legislation to reduce or eliminate parking minimums.  

“It’s exciting,” said Tony Jordan, founder of the national Parking Reform Network, which connects advocates and policymakers with resources. To Jordan, the number of state bills introduced signal a quietly growing number of people working on the issue. “It’s becoming very popular.” 

For decades, nearly every town across North America has required all new homes and businesses to have a pre-determined number of parking spaces. But as widespread housing shortages and empty office buildings multiply, states are increasingly taking up the effort to roll back parking mandates instead of waiting for cities to adopt new codes one by one. Last year, Oregon and California both adopted policies that struck down parking mandates at the state level.  

Widespread parking reform proposals have yet to be as successful in other states, but the number of bills popping up in states across the political spectrum illustrates the movement’s growing influence.  

Reducing parking minimums is most commonly found as one part of a larger reform package to increase housing supply, like in Colorado’s comprehensive More Housing Now bill. Legislators from multiple states, though, have begun to address parking minimums directly with simple bills only a few pages long. In Oklahoma, a bill was introduced that would have ended parking minimums outright. Washington attempted to eliminate mandatory parking near frequent transit stations. Another transit-oriented measure in New Jersey would cut parking minimums near transit in half; that bill is still alive, having passed the state senate in May.

Stand-alone parking bills

Parking reformers’ biggest 2023 wins so far have come in Vermont and Montana. Despite very different political majorities, both states legalized more housing while capping local parking mandates at one parking space per home through much of the state. Other successful housing supply bills, like ones that legalized accessory dwelling units, included pre-emptions of parking requirements.

Parking reform in abundant housing policies

These efforts were buoyed by 2022 breakthroughs in state-level parking reform. Both Oregon and California adopted policies to make parking fully optional for properties near transit service, and for certain uses in Oregon. The new policies went into effect in both states on January 1, 2023. 

Oregon’s parking reform survived the legislative session intact. The sole public hearing on a bill that would have nullified the state’s new land use and transportation rules was canceled after more than 140 Oregon residents and organizations submitted testimony to oppose it. It was never rescheduled. 

In May, California Representative Robert Garcia broke another barrier, elevating the issue to the federal level by introducing the People Over Parking Act in Congress. Modeled after California’s state law, the bill would eliminate parking requirements within a half-mile of transit service. He was joined by Representatives Earl Blumenauer (OR), Greg Casar (TX), and Seth Moulton (MA). 

The shifting Overton window is a welcome development to advocates like Jordan, who first got involved with parking reform a decade ago. He described the phases of policy change like steps on a ladder. “First, they cap what you can do. Then you legalize certain kinds of housing without it. And then maybe you go for the transit stations,” he said. “Eventually someone’s going to do the whole thing.”  

The day when parking minimums are wholly relegated to the past might be a ways off yet, but it’s clear that interest in removing them isn’t going away anytime soon.  

 

Did we miss one? Let us know about your statewide parking reform at editor@sightline.org.