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I noticed that compared to other type of zoned lots, residential lots are very often deficient in parking in comparison.
Anyone who had ever lived in or visited a townhome, apartment, or condo complex would find with a few exceptions it appears those properties are hardly built with any parking in mind compared to their lot size when compared to other types of properties in a similar sized lot i.e commercial. And parking is often a nightmare for those who live there or drop by for a visit.
I mean how come a similar sized office complex lot seem to have enough parking for so many employees over 90% drive, contractors, visitors, in a day? However for residential properties it appears very little of the lot space is devoted to parking. I do understand paving may be expensive for developers. But there should be other cheaper options to expand parking using the same landscape without spending too much. It appears residential properties are strategically designed to make parking painful even though in many areas there is no alternative means of transit.
Where I live there had been a road widening project that was interrupted due to one apartment complex lobbying against as their tenants would have no place to park should on street parking be removed by an extra traffic lane. I mean if they designed their property right in the beginning they should have to resort to on street parking in the first place. To make matters worse a perfectly empty lot connected to the complex that could had been used for parking and accommodated all those cars once parked on street instead end up getting sold to a warehouse. For now that area turned in to a permanent bottleneck as the widened lanes abruptly disappear to pass that complex and drivers need to stop in the narrowed section lanes to parallel park.
Even single family homes, I noticed including larger ones are pretty parking deficient despite in low density areas when their garages/driveways are often very small compared to the square footage of the house, number of rooms/bedrooms, visitors it could entertain, and not to mention the growing size of the average family vehicle. To make matters worse many newer communities are built with very limited or severely restricted parking on roadsides and common areas. Apparently they build their floorplans to entertain and provide hospitality to a big family and other families but there are no place for them to park. Makes no sense when these communities are built so car dependent that every one of driving age need their own car.
While I understand that ADA standards does not apply to single family homes, I do notice most residential garages even ones built post 1990s do not meet ADA accessibility standards if parked the number of cars its rated to hold. As even abled bodied find it a struggle to get in and out of their family vehicles in this case.
Of course there are exceptions to every rule but parking deficiency in residential areas seems the norm than the exception in most cases in residential buildings.
Last edited by citizensadvocate; 11-10-2020 at 02:35 PM..
They are trying to pressure consumers to take public transport
Which of course will have interacting with the public this can get you stalked and mugged in a jiffy
Majority of violent crime occurs on foot near shopping, home or public transport
They are trying to pressure consumers to take public transport
Which of course will have interacting with the public this can get you stalked and mugged in a jiffy
Majority of violent crime occurs on foot near shopping, home or public transport
Ironically though there is often absolutely zero or no public transport at all within miles of many newer communities yet they continue to build communities with so few parking spaces and tiny garages. And mostly restricted curbs. I am sure there is more than enough space to accommodate parked cars on each residential lot/complex but they artificially made them tight on parking.
A lot of this is determined by the local building code (if they even had metrics for parking) at the time the residential development was built (fire department service ability to reach) and the growth of auto ownership specifically in LARGE vehicles which can barely fit in most standard parking garages. It also has to do with total number of adults of driving age living in a development.
An example, a municipality may have a requirement with current building codes of 1.5 parking spaces per unit. A building may have been built prior to this requirement and have a lower ratio. Or they cram as many spaces as possible with nary room for the mix of vehicles as if all are going to be smaller.
Suburban residential of cluster like town homes often plan for the aggregate and all you need is a few residents with a party and all the guest parking will be taken. The trend toward narrow frontage and vertical oriented town homes also means less street parking.
Another issue is owners USING their parking space to store all manner of "stuff". In many instances the building of garage parking will barely accommodate a large SUV. The shift to larger overall vehicles, more adults per household or multiple vehicle owning residents who have downsized from their larger house but still keeping all their vehicles is another factor especially when they are hoarder types. We have two residents who have large vans which they literally keep full of "stuff".
Another could be an urban planning incentive given to developer. In some more urban locations a developer will receive a credit of sorts to build more units without having to have full ratio of vehicles if they are dedicated to lower income people and your development is close to multiple public transit options (bus line / transit station etc..). Or they have a percent green space / unpaved portion of the development lot. Some of this could be overcome with smart permeable paving techniques but the developers don't want to incur the extra cost to do it correctly or cannot find contractors who know how to engineer this type of parking construction.
The single family home issue is more a cost savings to developer i.e. short driveways, least amount of set back from street per building / municipal code. The trend in our area with these cluster type town homes is to cram them into a small footprint to gain density (property tax per SF of develop-able land) and then put in the minimum of paved roadway. This leads to boxy vertical oriented clusters with small garages and very little overflow which is often filled with residents other vehicles.
Part of it is also the lack of people who move to a new area / building to check that they have enough allocated space for their number of vehicles. I.E. placing a limit on the number of registered vehicles in say a Condo/HOA type environment and making those with say more vehicles than driving adults store the extra someplace.
Depending on where you live it can also be cultural as there are some first gen Americans from certain parts of the world who seem to think wealth is measured in the number of motor vehicles they have at their disposal much like old testament biblical wealth measured in number of goats/sheep etc...
I agree with you, basically the trends of consumer desires and developers / municipal allocations often do not mesh even in new construction.
They are trying to pressure consumers to take public transport
Which of course will have interacting with the public this can get you stalked and mugged in a jiffy
Majority of violent crime occurs on foot near shopping, home or public transport
Public transit is safer than you believe. But how can you pressure people to use it if it doesn't exist? Besides, much of the time you have to drive to the station anyway!
There is nothing strange about street parking. It has been going on for generations in big cities and it is not going away. It is funny how people who are not used to urban areas (or if they are, sun belt low density urban areas) are shocked that there are places where there isn’t always a huge half empty parking lot to park in.
Also the idea that riding public transit is more dangerous than driving a car, one of the least safe things people do on a daily basis, is absolutely hilarious.
Public transit is safer than you believe. But how can you pressure people to use it if it doesn't exist? Besides, much of the time you have to drive to the station anyway!
The non-existence of transit is an issue but so is convenience. Taking a 90 minute transit ride compared to a 20 minute drive is a killer. Even where I live with the intra-County bus an 8 mile drive turns into a 20 mile 90 minute plus bus ride because "you can't get there from here".
Quote:
Originally Posted by citizensadvocate
Ironically though there is often absolutely zero or no public transport at all within miles of many newer communities yet they continue to build communities with so few parking spaces and tiny garages. And mostly restricted curbs. I am sure there is more than enough space to accommodate parked cars on each residential lot/complex but they artificially made them tight on parking.
Don't discount the developers/owners. Parking costs them money at both the front end and the back end. Also is local regulations. We had a requirement for 1 1/2 spaces/unit for years and moved it to two to recognize on the ground realities. Investors howled that we were taking food off their tables. It was then kicked back to 1 1/2 spaces and we had a mushroomimg of duplexes built on 25' X 100' lots. The political blowback was tremendous so it was changed back to 2.
Then the State of Maryland implemented statewide Zoning requirements that sort of mandated 1 space/unit (see my above about transit). We ignored that (even though there was a cohort that wanted it) in our required Comprehensive Rezoning and were threatened with fines for non-compliance. That never happened because our Town Attorney had actually read the law.
What we have a problem with is single family houses where the occupants refuse to use the driveway and park on the street. A house near me has a two car garge and a driveway that will accomodate six cars. The occupants park all 5 of their cars on the street, only 2 in front of their house with the rest elsewhere. That scenario is repeated throughout the Town. Then you have landlords that in the lease specify only 1 car may be parked in the 3 car driveway.
What we have a problem with is single family houses where the occupants refuse to use the driveway and park on the street. A house near me has a two car garge and a driveway that will accomodate six cars. The occupants park all 5 of their cars on the street, only 2 in front of their house with the rest elsewhere. That scenario is repeated throughout the Town. Then you have landlords that in the lease specify only 1 car may be parked in the 3 car driveway.
Many cities try to stop this by banning street parking, or overnight. This works until all the residents complain. I witnessed it one I lived in. City complained it hindered street cleaning.
Public transit is safer than you believe. But how can you pressure people to use it if it doesn't exist? Besides, much of the time you have to drive to the station anyway!
What I believe is not important but the stats are
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