Reducing parking minimum requirements is a beginning

AB 2097, widely touted as abolishing minimum parking requirements across the state, took effect at the beginning of the year to numerous accolades following Gov. Gavin Newsom's signing of the measure. It's well established that building more infrastructure for cars (parking, roads, etc.) only leads to higher car usage, creating more congestion and restricting urban economic growth and affordable housing. This effect, known as induced demand, was recently publicly affirmed by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. But despite the acknowledgement of the problem, reversing the process may not be as easy.

Despite its optimistic positioning by backers, AB 2097's reach is limited, only removing parking minimums within a halfmile of major transit stops, a limited area within sprawling metropolises like the Bay Area or Los Angeles. In truth, it is far from an abolishment of parking minimums.

Despite its limitations, AB 2097 has been a key momentum driver of a trend that is spreading across California and nationwide, sending an important signal to cities across the country: Start thinking about how to build communities that aren't built around cars. Or as a certain tech visionary once said: Think different.

But now it's up to all stakeholders in cities to step up and start actively working to repurpose the vast areas of land currently devoted to parking. Real estate developers and city planners often lament the lack of developable land in urban cores.

Our analysis found that across the Bay Area and elsewhere in the state, surface, underground and above-ground parking can take up more than 60% of available land in many downtown districts.

San Jose took a major step forward when in December the City Council removed all parking minimums across the city, making it the largest municipality in the country to do so. This gives an important green light for any real estate developer or property builder to start demonstrating competitive cost advantages from less parking and other car infrastructure. And they need to develop more walkable, bikeable neighborhoods, the Holy Grail of the so-called 15 Minute City.

Better, more accessible transportation options can further add momentum. Long distances, such as going between communities or non-adjacent neighborhoods, are often best served with transit such as Caltrain commuter rail. But transit still needs better last-mile connections from transit stops into the surrounding communities, especially in neighborhoods that are not pedestrian- or bike-friendly, which often includes lower-income and other underserved populations.

In many cases, we're not as far off as one might think from removing parking and other costly car infrastructure. While planning transportation at Google `s real estate division, we discovered that most car trips are less than 3 miles. So the primary sources of congestion aren't necessarily the long commutes to a distant workplace or trips to a suburban mall. In reality, the need for most car trips could easily be eliminated by a combination of dense, mixed-use developments and emerging transportation technologies for better short-distance mobility options.

But making all of this happen will require better coordination and strategizing between real estate developers, city officials, urban planners, architects and transportation providers. Their work needs to be conducted in concert, not in silos.

Moving away from parking minimum requirements is a necessary first step, but only the start. Now the real work has to begin to make our cities more livable, affordable and sustainable.