Metro Phoenix Parking Thread
 

Sometimes there are spirited discussions about parking in Phoenix. This is the place for them. By the way, if you'd like some good background on the relationship between parking and urban vitality, I suggest checking out these two books by Donald Shoup:

The High Cost of Free Parking (in-depth and somewhat technical)

Parking and the City (a shorter and more accessible follow-up)

You might also want to look at the Shoupistas Facebook group, where people discuss parking reform.

This is a good look at parking oversupply, its harmful consequences, and possible reforms, all from a local perspective:

"Given the abundance of parking in metro Phoenix, planners and policymakers should reform minimum requirements, and provide opportunities for both improved parking management and parking space repurposing. Doing so would not make it meaningfully more difficult to park, and could pay substantial environmental and social dividends. At a minimum, parking requirements should reflect the large number of current parking spaces, and should more aggressively promote opportunities to share existing spaces."

http://transfersmagazine.org/magazin...parking-space/

Some good news from the Downtown Voices Coalition meeting (via Zoom of course) this morning: There was a presentation from the developer of the new apartment tower at 6th Street and Garfield. One nice detail is that although there will be a parking podium, they're building only enough parking for about 65% of dwelling units. They understand that not everyone who chooses to live downtown will want or need to own a car. They also cited parking utilization rates from nearby developments as being in this range. I asked if the parking was going to be unbundled for those who do need it. They indicated they were leaning in that direction but did not seem to have made up their minds yet.

Does anyone know the parking ratio for 44 Monroe?

Lived there for many years, left a year and a half ago. I can tell you there wasnt enough parking for all whom needed it, and MANY residents (myself included) parked vehicle(s) across the street in the 101 tower.

I'd be curious to know the parking ratio for 44.

Hey Fawd, I was an early buyer in 44 Monroe (before backing out, thankfully) and if I recall, parking was one spot per bedroom. My memory is a little hazy, but I believe that’s what they were advertising at the time. When I get back to PHX I’ll check if I still have the original sales packet in my files

We had a 2br, but only received 1 spot.

There was some discussion at this morning’s DVC meeting about parking for the X-social (or whatever it’s called) project on 2nd Avenue. The original plan was for no parking at all. The capital markets were skittish about that, so a limited amount of parking (well below a 1:1 ratio of parking spots to dwelling units) has been added.

Hopefully that will add floors to the project

I'm thinking out of the box:

What if Phoenix were to prohibit parking fees along our publicly funded rights of way? Instead of parking meters, put up "2-hour" signs. I think this would increase foot traffic in downtown and also increase sales tax revenue, while decreasing the cost occurred on tax payers with enforcement.

Despite steering away from one of downtown’s first zero-parked residential projects, the revision isn’t bad either. The revised parking ratio is 0.38 and they’re offering 200 bike parking spaces, rather than the required 50, so it’s still a win in my mind.

I’ll take more projects with a reduced parking ratio if it challenges parking minimums.

It will. I believe I heard three more floors due to the added parking.

There would still have to be enforcement to keep drivers from parking longer than two hours. With parking meters, the enforcement can be self-funded. With free parking, the funds for enforcement would have to come from either higher fines for violators or the city’s general fund.

Completely agree.