A local official recently spoke with The Dallas Express about the City’s intent to amend Dallas’ antiquated parking code in an effort to stimulate economic growth and reduce development permitting times.
Pursuing parking code reform is a top priority due to its wide impact on every part of Dallas life, according to Dallas Senior City Planner Michael Wade.
“Reduced or eliminated minimum parking requirements would speed up review time for development permitting, open up valuable land for housing and commercial growth, mitigate the impact of new development on the natural environment, foster compact and sustainable urban maturity, and contribute to the City’s goal of shifting away from an auto-centric transportation system to a multi-modal, strategic model,” Wade told The Dallas Express.
Dallas City Council Member Chad West of District 1 filed a memo in early August calling on the City Plan Commission to amend Chapters 51 and 51A of the Dallas Development Code to reduce or eliminate minimum parking requirements in the city.
In total, five City Council members have backed the move to amend the City’s parking requirements. They have asked City Manager T.C. Broadnax to develop an actionable plan that includes steps for how and when the parking mandates might be amended.
City Council members who added their names in support of West’s August memo include Jaime Resendez of District 5, Adam Bazaldua of District 7, Jaynie Schultz of District 11, and Gay Donnell Willis of District 13.
“This work is so important,” West told CandysDirt.com. “Staff has acknowledged publicly many times that 70 to 80 percent of the man hours spent at the permit office can be attributed to working through complicated parking scenarios to try to make development work.”
The Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee, a subcommittee of Dallas’ City Plan Commission, met for a scheduled meeting on August 15 to examine the proposal and assess if revising off-street parking and loading requirements would truly stimulate growth for the City.
“As with any major topic of the highest priority, staff are dedicated to both careful and expedient work with the goal of bringing amendments to the City Plan Commission this fall,” Wade told The Dallas Express.
Although the City’s Planning and Urban Design Department has already begun working on revisions to the development code, some officials have argued the change could do more harm than good for the city.
Council Member Cara Mendelsohn of District 12 claimed reducing the amount of parking in specific parts of the City would actually cause more congestion and pose more challenges for people trying to find parking.
“This is very important to Far North Dallas because we have different challenges than some other parts of the city,” Mendelsohn said in a recent newsletter. “Our office receives many complaints about not enough parking at apartments and spillover into neighborhoods, but the ordinance being considered will not require even the same amount that is present today, meaning parking could be removed.”
One of the biggest burdens associated with the City’s outdated parking requirements is the exorbitant cost involved with the construction of structured or underground parking, which, according to Nathaniel Barrett, founder and CEO of a Dallas-based development firm, ranges from $30,000–$50,000 per space.
“You can pretty reliably estimate those costs. For every $100 it costs, you’re going to probably add a dollar of cost to rent to everyone,” Barrett said, Dallas Observer reported.
Despite mixed reactions from council members and builders over the proposed amendment, Wade argues that amending the requirement would help remove development barriers such as the reuse of historic buildings and the establishment of neighborhood businesses.
“Common concerns with parking reform revolve around the perception that existing parking at our favorite destinations will disappear and that roadways will become congested with additional cars parked on the curb,” Wade told The Dallas Express.
“Our region’s deep-seated dependence on the automobile, combined with pressure by lenders and tenants alike, will ensure a gradual reduction in parking provision in response to organic cultural change,” he said.
Examples from the City’s Mixed-Income Housing Development Bonus program have shown that in most cases, given the opportunity, developers tend to reduce their parking by only three or four spaces overall.
“Concurrently with this off-street parking code amendment, the Dallas Department of Transportation is finalizing the City’s On-Street Parking and Curb Management Policy, which will provide tools and programs to ensure that street parking and loading spaces in high-demand areas remain available while sensitively and strategically managing street parking that threatens the public use of the right-of-way,” Wade told The Dallas Express.
In late 2022, The Dallas Express interviewed local development professional Michael Ablon about the City’s need to eliminate its minimum parking standard and how the change might spur more developers to build their projects in Dallas.
“Density is our future,” Ablon told The Dallas Express. “If we don’t make it favorable and we don’t incentivize companies to pick Dallas, they will just go to Frisco. In order to increase the quality of our city, its streets, and the jobs that move here, we have to make it easy, and that begins with parking reform.”