Could nixing parking spot requirements help new housing construction?

Drive through Denver's River North Art District, a.k.a. RiNo, and you'll see a lot of galleries, trendy restaurants, and upscale apartment buildings with dedicated parking garages. Until a year ago, the city required that most housing developments include at least one parking space per unit.

“I think in a place like RiNo, where you have so much walkable stuff to do, I think there's a good question about how much parking you really need,” said Stefan Chavez-Norgaard, an assistant professor of public policy at the University of Denver.

Last year, the Denver City Council voted to eliminate minimum parking requirements for all new construction. Chavez-Norgaard co-authored a study estimating the change could increase apartment building by nearly 13%. He said a single parking space can add $50,000 to the cost of construction and make it harder to fit projects on available land.

“So here is a great example of this, is Nest56,” he said.

Nest56 provides supportive housing for young adults transitioning out of foster care or who've experienced homelessness. It's built on an oddly shaped triangular lot, which would have made it difficult and expensive to provide a lot of parking. Before Denver eliminated parking minimums for all construction, it had reduced requirements for affordable housing projects like this one.

“We'll see on the right that there are maybe six parking spaces for a 56-unit building, and that frees up space for things like this, which is like outdoor green space, a dog park, and I think it makes neighborhoods better and ultimately more desirable,” Chavez-Norgaard said.

It also has climate benefits.

“As we know, concrete is very carbon-intensive,” said Jennifer Ramsey with the Denver Community Planning and Development Department, “and so if we reduce the need for parking structures, then we can reduce the investment and embodied carbon, and so that helps the city on multiple fronts.”

Ramsey said the parking change will promote commercial development, too. She points to a hotel and restaurant project already under construction. Under the old rules, the developer would have had to provide 36 parking spaces.

“By limiting the parking requirements, we make it much easier for that project to actually move forward,” she said.

But just because the city no longer requires parking doesn't mean developers won't build it. Chavez-Norgaard said investors may shy away from funding projects that don't offer enough parking because renters want it. And he gets it.

I asked him if he would live in a building down here without parking. His response: “I hate to say it, but I like my car and parking space.”

For what it’s worth, Denver is investing in public transportation to make it more feasible to live without one.