Ordinance 1925-93 - Laserfiche WebLink

SECTION 7: RELATED PLANS AND POLICIES There are other elements in the Everett Municipal Code, primarily in the zoning ordinance, that can be modified to support transportation demand management strategies. These revisions are in areas such as the parking requirements, where new minimum and maximum levels of parking can be specified, in order to deter SOV use. Requirements for HOV priority parking and measures to reduce existing parking supplies will be examined by the City. Parking Guidelines The Task Force developed a set of Parking Guidelines to respond to the Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) Law's requirement that each affected jurisdiction's CTR plan "shall include...a review of local parking policies and ordinances as they relate to employers and major worksites and any revisions necessary to comply with commute trip reduction goals and guidelines..." RCW 70.94.527[4e]. These Guidelines were intended to give direction to jurisdictions in their review and revision process, and to help achieve regional consistency in parking policy changes. The Task Force recommendations cover parking supply, parking cost, and site design. They also address parking revisions for existing sites. Because of the focus of the CTR Law, the Task Force considered applications to long-term (all-day) employee parking, rather than short-term customer parking, such as at retail sites. The recommendations are designed to encourage local land use codes to respond to reductions in parking demand as single-occupant vehicle use decreases through CTR programs, and to encourage local jurisdictions to provide flexibility to employers to use parking management as an element of CTR programs. These Guidelines are based on the "Parking Policy Report," produced by the Commute Trip Reduction Task Force subcommittee on Parking, Training, and Model Programs, July I, 1992. This report contains analysis and more detailed methodology and reasoning behind the recommendations. The Task Force finds that local parking policy is critical to the success of the CTR Law because of the close relationship between commuter behavior and the supply and cost of parking. Although parking needs are changing, most local zoning codes do not yet reflect these changes. Ample research demonstrates that employee parking is oversupplied, both locally and nationally, particularly at office and industrial developments. A survey sent to local planning officials of 29 Washington jurisdictions indicated that a significant number receive requests from developers to supply less than the minimum parking required in the local code. However, the need to go through a lengthy variance process discourages many developers from providing less parking than required. Charging for parking has been shown to be a more effective and direct way to influence mode choice than fine-tuning parking supply. Local governments do not now have the authority to require property owners or employers to charge for parking, and many employers are not aware of their true parking costs. 38