Present Small Lot Zoning with Mixed Use Zoning – No parking required

 

Councilman Albus Brooks‘ Small Lot Parking Exemption Bill – the first 3 stories of any new building located a ½ mile from a rail transit station platform or ¼ mile from a high frequency transit corridor would be exempt from parking requirements; the first 2 stories of any new building would be exempt from parking requirements beyond the ½- and ¼- mile transit boundaries.

 

Councilman Jolon Clark’s Small Lot Parking Exemption Amendment – reduces the parking exemption from the first 3 stories to the first 2 stories of any new building ½ mile from a rail transit station platform or ¼ mile from a high frequency transit corridor; reduces the parking exemption from 2 floors to only the ground floor of any new building beyond the ½- and ¼- mile transit boundaries.

Nearly 700 residents participated in our recent District 10 Small Lot Parking Exemption survey. Some highlights from the survey include:

 

At the end of the survey people were asked to share their comments and feedback on the issue of parking exemptions for small lots. Reading through the comments, I noticed some common themes, many of which I agreed with. Here are just a couple of the great comments that were received:

 

• “It’s great to think that people will get by without a car and use public transportation, however Coloradans like to go to the mountains, camp, ski, snowmobile, etc. and that requires a vehicle.”
• “Until Denver has a GOOD mass transit system, all new buildings should require adequate parking.”

This survey made it clear that parking remains an important issue for residents of District 10. Even though 85% of the survey participants felt that no exemptions should be allowed, this is not the question before Council. If the original bill or the amendment did not pass we would default to the original zoning that does not require any parking on small lots. Therefore, Councilman Clark’s amendment, which provided the least parking exemption, was preferred. On Monday, I voted for Councilman Clark’s amendment which was passed by City Council with a 7 to 6 vote. A final vote and public hearing on this issue will be held in May.