At the May 8th Tallahassee City Commission meeting, elected officials decided to get feedback from neighborhoods before voting on a motion to eliminate minimum parking regulations related to new developments.
Mayor Dailey and others were concerned that the elimination of parking requirements could have an adverse impact on neighborhoods located near new developments.
Commissioner Matlow and Commissioner Porter were prepared to vote to eliminate all parking requriements.
The Issue
At the February 7, 2024, city commission meeting, Commissioner Jack Porter made a motion related to the city’s parking regulations and the Commission directed staff to bring back an informational item regarding parking standards.
The current conversations around parking minimums nationwide have at their core the intent to increase walkability, the use of multiple transportation means, and pedestrian safety.
According to the agenda item, the City’s existing regulations provide the flexibility to tailor minimum parking requirements to the specific needs of a given development while also while also ensuring that existing neighborhoods are not negatively impacted by new development, which can occur when parking is fully deregulated.
Staff notes the primary challenge experienced locally is in areas where dense commercial districts abut low-density residential neighborhoods. A popular destination like the greater Midtown district draws in visitors who are often traveling by car, but the limited amount of available parking adjacent to the commercial establishments leads to visitors parking in nearby residential neighborhoods such as Lafayette Park. This has prompted existing businesses to express concerns about a lack of available parking in the district and residents in these adjacent neighborhoods to express concerns with the additional vehicular traffic and parking congestion along their local residential streets.
Staff explains in the item that while some cities have opted for a complete deregulation of parking requirements, a review of these approaches, staff analysis, and local experience show that such an approach could exacerbate parking concerns in residential neighborhoods.
City to Hold Neighborhood Meetings on Parking Regulations added by Staff on
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Deregulation is sadly not the answer. Yes it’s true that there is no problem government can’t make worse, but if a business expects to attract customers it must have a place for them to park. It should be on the developers to build to accommodate. No reason they can’t build up with parking beneath like the Dillard’s. Or build commercial blocks with a parking garage in the middle and the shops around the perimeter. This would give customers a single central place to park that isn’t an eyesore to the pedestrian and cycling traffic, preserving the inviting appearance of the shops.
Sending customer parking into neighborhoods is not a solution. My mom deals with parked cars from an automotive repair shop constantly taking up the curb space at her home. She has room to park her own car in her driveway, but not visitors or guests. It leaves her street congested and unattractive. For my part, if I can’t park I won’t go. And no, I’m not paying to park in a lot and walk or take a bus or shuttle. The only reason for me to ever venture to downtown is when summoned for jury duty, which is of course under threat of state violence.
Thank you for addressing this! Parking minimums create so much unnecessary pavement in places like midtown, but especially in student-oriented areas, and walkable spaces where we have less need for parking.
Midtown became a commercial and social hub because it’s walkable and accessible by so many forms of transportation. I love riding my bike there, walking there, and driving there to enjoy all it has to offer.
Businesses should provide the parking they need and not depend on the city to subsidize the space or mandate the amount they should build. Each business and residence is different and has varying needs when it comes to parking. Government shouldn’t be interfering here. This will help increase small development and infill many of our city’s existing areas with infrastructure already built.
I think if you gave local areas control over roads and parking, the problem would solve itself. If midtown doesnt like people parking everywhere, and the traffic going through, leave it up to them to come up with a solution. Maybe its close off midtown to cars, build lots, sell shuttle transportation from nearby lots. Or maybe they are fine as is. If the city picks for them they will get a expensive solar highway and tesla chargers. Midtown is formed organically and can progress that way. I say just stay out of it and give them what they choose. Much like southwood does. They do it themselves.
This is part of the war on cars. It is social engineering. It will result in a lower standard of living, less freedom, and it will negatively impact any future businesses that do not provide for adequate parking for their customers. The number of customers that you force into walking/biking will be dwarfed by the number of customers that will choose to go somewhere else because there is no parking. By the way, pedestrian safety will likely be WORSE, not better. That is because unless you have hoards of pedestrians, drivers will not notice them any more than they do now. This will not create hoards of pedestrians, but it will mix more pedestrians and vehicles which is a recipe for more pedestrian injuries/fatalities. After this happens, the City will not admit this elimination of parking was the cause, but instead will point to the evil car drivers and call for even more vehicle restrictions. Good luck to those businesses and the surrounding neighborhoods, you’ll need it.
Will one or both of the Pro-Hamas Progressives move to paint an intersection with “Antisemite Lives Matter”?
You want to see crazy parking that needs to be addressed by city officials go by Cobb Middle School when school lets out. The parents who come to pick up their kids park where ever the heck they want…usually in the traffic lanes of Hillcrest Avenue or in the driveway entrances of nearby homes. It gets really sporty for drivers using Hillcrest Avenue as they try and dodge middle school kids as they run through moving traffic with heavy back packs and hoodie covered eyes looking for the right car to jump into. It is only the tolerance of such moronic behavior by local residents that has allowed this unsafe traffic condition to continue. If the city is serious about addressing parking problems, the streets around Cobb Middle School is the place to start.
The thing that gets me is, the Inconsiderate Drivers. I used to go to the weekly Saturday Night Cruise In’s at the Thomasville Road What-A-Burger and People will pull into their Parking Lot, Park under the Canopy, get out and walk across the Street to one of the Bars. Every chance I got I would stop them and tell them that their Vehicle will not be there when they come back. They would keep asking me if I worked their and I would just keep saying, “It wont be here when you get back”. they would finally move it to a Parking Space on the other side of the Bushes. It’s not that there isn’t enough Parking in a lot of areas, it’s just that people are Lazy. I(f you want to help with Parking Down Town and Mid Town, try letting People Park at Metered Spaces for FREE starting at 4:00pm.and make all Meters 2 Hour Limits. A while back, I have seen a few Meters with 30 Minute Limits and that’s crazy.