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SA Page 21 It is interesting to note that there are a few cities that have eliminated downtown minimum requirements altogether, such as Coral Gables, Florida; Eugene, Oregon; Fort Meyers, Florida; Fort Pierce, Florida; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Olympia, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Stuart, Florida; and Spokane, Washington. In Stuart, Florida the number of downtown businesses increased by 348% within four years of the elimination of downtown parking requirements. Downtown Petaluma's new downtown zoning code features drastically reduced parking requirements, which will then be followed by a complete elimination of those requirements within five years. The Problem With Most Minimum Parkina Reauirements There are two primary problems with most parking requirements that are in effect in most downtowns across the country... Problem #1: Most Minimum Parking Requirements Are Too High For Downtowns The first parking ordinances were written to "The more downtown is broken up and relieve congested Downtown curb parking. Since then they have spread to just about every city in interspersed with parking Jots and the nation in an attempt to make sure that no one garages, the duller and deader it ever parks at the curb. Most parking ordinances becomes... and there is nothing more seek to make sure that all possible parking needs repellent than a dead downtown." are accommodated right on the same parcel as .Jane Jacobs the development. Usually, the amount of parking needed during the busiest hour of the busiest day of the year is estimated for various uses and is then required as the minimum parking reqpirement. It is assumed that this parking will be free and will not be shared with neighboring properties, meaning efficiency is minimized and demand is maximized. In short, most minimum p<,trking requirements are too high for downtowns. But what's wrong with that? It can't hurt to have too much parking, can it? There are two main problems with this approach when it is applied to downtowns, including Downtown Redwood City: 1. Downtown land is expensive, so high parking requirements discourage good downtown development. Like most good downtowns, property values are high in Downtown and they're rising. This makes large surface parking lots an unattractive proposition. Anyone who pays top dollar for land wants to have as much of it generating revenue as possible, and surface parking doesn't do that. Above-ground parking structures are much more efficient with land, but they are very expensive. In fact, they tend to cost $20,000 or more per space. Underground garages are more land-efficient, but they are also the most expensive. The new municipal garage under the retail/cinema project is costing the City about $30,000 per space. New garages in Palo Alto cost their local government nearly $51,000 1>,2,~ 1'1 .__..... .. . -._.- ~_.--- .....__. ^ .., '~--""'------ -....-.,..-..-...-..-... -. .----.--.--.---.....-