Bicycle Austin forum

MichaelBluejay

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From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

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Car-less condos (no parking) planned for downtown

A project planned for downtown Austin would have 135 luxury apartments and no parking, e.g., no parking garage.

I get that "If you build it, they will come," meaning that when society provides lots of parking, that encourages car ownership and use.  But I'm not sure the reverse is true, that if you eliminate parking, people will suddenly drive less or abandon their cars.  In my neighborhood there's a new gym that has almost no parking.  During class times, the neighborhood fills up with customers parking on the street.

Darron

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 131

Re: Car-less condos (no parking) planned for downtown

Looks like the city is finally experimenting with the parking requirement code.  For just this one property I doubt it will be an issue as there is plenty of pay parking available in the existing garages downtown from the years of requiring excess parking for any building.

Make sense for the city to move this direction as space is limited downtown and using that space for parking over residential/office/comm reduces the tax revenue since parking is not worth as much.  Lots of cities face the same issue and have creative solutions, for example some heavily regulate every private parking space to maximize usage.  Others require if you live in the city with a car you have to have proof of parking as well.  Curious to see what route Austin will take with either more parking space regulation or just reduce the required spaces in the building code and let the market figure it out (or even a third/fourth/etc option that we haven't even thought of).

Either way I applaud the city for at least trying something new.

Darron

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

Website

Re: Car-less condos (no parking) planned for downtown

It'll be an interesting experiment, for sure.

What U.S. cities require proof of parking?  They have that in Japan (for car ownership), I didn't know we had anything like that here.

Darron

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 131

Re: Car-less condos (no parking) planned for downtown

Yes Japan is the one I was referring to for proof of parking and regarding regulating all parking spots, this is done in Munich where the city coordinates the renting of parking spots through MGS (Münchner Gesellschaft für Stadterneuerung).

Unfortunately I don't have any example of either of this in the US probably because it doesn't exist here.

Darron

Jack

Member

Registered: 2013-03-27

Posts: 344

Re: Car-less condos (no parking) planned for downtown

From the CenterLines newsletter http://www.bikewalk.org/cl/2016/aug/082 … 5d9260169e 

CARLESS RENTERS PAY $440M/YR FOR PARKING THEY CAN’T USE
-> A Streetsblog article notes many residents of American cities can’t escape the high cost of parking, even if they don’t own cars. With policies like mandatory parking requirements and "bundling" parking with housing, carless renters pay $440 million each year for parking they don’t use, according to a new study published in Housing Policy Debate. (Hidden Costs and Deadweight Losses: Bundled Parking and Residential Rents in the Metropolitan United States: http://bit.ly/2c5EjhL) The financial burden works out to an average of $621 annually per household, or a 13 percent rent premium — and it is concentrated among households that can least afford it. Researchers estimate that nationwide there are 708,000 households without a car renting an apartment with a garaged parking space. http://bit.ly/2bQoEBv

Jack

Member

Registered: 2013-03-27

Posts: 344

Re: Car-less condos (no parking) planned for downtown

Internationally speaking...

MALMÖ, SWEDEN: BIKE APARTMENT BUILDING ZERO CAR PARKING
-> When the Cykelhust apartment building opens in Malmö, Sweden, this December, it will be the country's first residential complex with no parking spaces attached to it. The city generally mandates that around one parking spot be attached to each apartment unit. Cykelhust designers proposed to funnel the money saved by forgoing parking-space construction into creating a comprehensively bike-friendly environment for residents.

The seven-story building, situated just a few minutes away from the central train station, will include a large indoor bike-parking area; the elevators, balconies, and doors will be built wider to accommodate unwieldy handlebars and wheels. A fleet of "cargo bikes" will be available for transporting small kids or groceries in large pull-along sidecars. Cykelhust will equip each apartment with an extra-large mailbox where residents can receive oversize shipments too large to manage on a bike. On the first floor of the building, 34 rooms will be set aside for nightly rentals, like a motel. Each "cycle motel" apartment comes with a bike, which visitors can pick up at the nearby train station, ride to Cykelhust, and use throughout their stay. http://bit.ly/2cEfM3D