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A bill to ease minimum parking requirements mostly along the Front Range cleared the Colorado Senate on Saturday after sponsors narrowed the number of areas where requirements would be eliminated.
House Bill 24-1304 passed on a 19-15 vote. Democratic Sens. Rachel Zenzinger of Arvada, Jeff Bridges of Greenwood Village, Chris Kolker of Centennial and Joann Ginal of Fort Collins joined Republicans in opposition.
As introduced, the bill would have completely prohibited enforcement of parking minimums at apartment buildings and shopping centers within metropolitan planning organizations. Supporters argue that mandating a certain number of parking spots per residential unit can result in large swaths of unused asphalt, drive up development costs and bolster people’s reliance on single-occupancy vehicles.
By eliminating minimums, the market could be left to right-size parking for individual development scenarios. That doesn’t mean zero parking necessarily, but it could mean less.
“The focus of this bill is addressing housing supply and transportation choices in tandem, because they are closely linked. It is recognizing that this is an integral, interjurisdictional issue that the state needs to play a role in,” bill sponsor Sen. Kevin Priola, a Henderson Democrat, said on the Senate floor Wednesday.
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The bill was sponsored by Priola, Democratic Sen. Nick Hinrichsen of Pueblo, Democratic Rep. Steven Woodrow of Denver and Democratic Rep. Stephanie Vigil of Colorado Springs.
The bill had passed the House, with some amendments to appease opponents but largely unscathed, on a 35-26 vote. One of those amendments lets local governments allow minimum parking on some developments.
The Senate picked the bill up for debate four times and repeatedly laid it over. It was finally narrowed significantly on Friday evening to only apply to areas within walking distance of fixed transit stops, and eliminated the prohibition on commercial sites. The chamber passed it on a voice vote.
If you make it harder for people to park, you make it harder for people to drive. If you make it harder for people to drive, there are a number of people in the state that make it harder for them to earn a living for themselves and their families.
– Sen. Jim Smallwood
The bill now applies to multifamily housing and adaptive reuse housing projects within one quarter of a mile of a light rail station, bus rapid transit stop or stop for a fixed-route bus service that comes at least every 30 minutes during peak hours.
“This bill will enable the development of more affordable housing, increase transit ridership and decrease traffic congestion and emissions,” Hinrichsen told Newsline.
Another bill working its way through the Senate would encourage cities to raise housing density allowances along transit corridors, which bill supporters say is in harmony with the goals of HB-1304.
Ginal, a Democrat opposed to the bill, tried to shrink that applicable radius to one-eighth of a mile but was unsuccessful.
“People who own cars and expect to be able to park them where they live are not bad people,” she said. “Established residential neighborhoods should not provide overflow parking for nearby apartments that don’t have enough parking. There are so many examples of this happening in Fort Collins.”
The pushback shows some of the strain between various land use, housing and transit legislation and Democratic priorities this year — they envision a Colorado with reduced car dependence and greater housing density near transit, but those efficient transit systems do not exist yet in many parts of the state. There are a suite of bills aimed at transit reform and boosted funding this session, but those goals will take years to realize.
Most Coloradans do not live in a place where they can ditch their car and rely on other modes of travel, opponents argue, so they need a place they can reliably store their vehicle.
“If you make it harder for people to park, you make it harder for people to drive. If you make it harder for people to drive, there are a number of people in the state that make it harder for them to earn a living for themselves and their families,” said Sen. Jim Smallwood, a Parker Republican.
The House needs to sign off on the Senate amendments or the chambers need to work it out through a conference committee before they send the bill to the governor’s desk. They have until Wednesday to do so.
Linsey Toomer contributed to this report.
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The post Parking minimums would be eased in some Colorado communities under Senate-passed bill appeared first on Colorado Newsline .
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