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<br /> SA <br /> Page 22 <br /> per new space. Due to these extremely high costs, overly-high parking <br /> requirements would likely stifle the growth ofthe Downtown. <br />2. High parking requirements lead to spread out auto-oriented places. Downtowns <br /> work precisely because they contain so many activities in such a small area. The <br /> conventional approach to parking spreads things out to the point where a real <br /> downtown just isn't possible. Our favorite downtowns-whether they be the big <br /> Loop of Chicago, the medium-sized Savannah, Georgia, or the small downtown <br /> Carmel-would not be possible to build under conventional codes. But would we <br /> be better off without Carmel, Savannah, or Chicago (or Redwood City, for that <br /> matter)? No! These are great places and we must retain them and expand them. <br />Problem #2: Too Many Land Use Categories <br />As it became apparent that parking requirements sometimes were too low and sometimes were <br />too high, cities broke them down into more and more land use categories in order to achieve <br />more precision. In 1960 the American Planning Association surveyed the nation's zoning <br />ordinances and found that 30 land use categories were in use. Today, more than 250 land use <br />categories are in effect, ranging from abattoir to zoo. Cities break these requirements down <br />further and further hoping to finally get it right (San Luis Obispo's differing requirements for <br />animal hospitals for large animals and for small animals is a good example). <br />Why is this a problem? In shopping areas, whether they be traditional downtowns or suburban <br />shopping centers, tenants change and businesses come and go. This is perfectly natural. Many <br />cities have a single requirement for shopping centers to respond to this reality, so that as <br />businesses change a shopping center doesn't fall out of compliance with the parking requirement. <br />Although the same processes affect downtowns, they aren't usually given the same benefit. <br />Downtowns are made up of many small properties which are closely interconnected with the <br />surrounding properties, yet they are treated like suburban properties which are usually large and <br />self-contained. <br />The problem presented by this paradigm becomes apparent when a business with a higher <br />parking requirement moves into a space formerly occupied by a business with a lower parking <br />requirement (say a shoe store moves into a space formerly occupied by a drug store in San Luis <br />Obispo). This puts planning departments in the uncomfortable position of having to either ignore <br />their code or require the new business to create more parking-very likely resulting in a vacant <br />storefront. <br />How Do Downtown Redwood City's Current Parking Requirements Measure <br />Up? <br />The current parking requirements for Downtown Redwood City are too high and have too many <br />land use categories. The Redwood City Zoning Ordinance does not have different requirements <br />for different areas of the city, and so the denser, walkable, mixed-use Downtown has the same <br />parking requirements as less dense auto-oriented areas of the City. <br /> '1>:l~e 15 <br /> - ' "---."'-"'._~-'+ -~.,___._~,._. .._.... __OM _...___. _..~.__._____._,._ ._.__.u__ <br />