She expects the work to resume in the next few months. “I don’t like projects, especially one this important, to linger,” she said.
While parking policy may sound almost as interesting as watching paint dry, it’s one of a handful of issues with the potential to change the dynamic of a city.
The reforms expected to be debated in coming months could replace across-the-board parking minimums with market-driven, case-by-case reviews that look for solutions other than giant, often-empty parking lots.
Both in its original 1965 code and a 1987 revision, Dallas — like cities across the nation — created parking ratios that require a specific number of spots per square feet of development.
Dallas developers must allow for one parking spot for every 333 square feet of office space. Restaurants and bars require one spot per 100 square feet. Multifamily developments require a space for every bedroom.
One measure of the 1965 code’s complexity: When staff evaluated it, the explanation required 41 pages of text.
Since 1987, Udrea said, “the city has added a little flexibility, but the changes are so small that it’s still like the 1960s.”
It’s ludicrous Dallas still makes parking decisions as if it’s 1965, especially given the entire city is fast becoming one massive heat island. The ratios also create enormous economic waste and hidden costs passed on to consumers.
You may consider the price of parking only when you valet or pull a ticket in a parking garage. Actually, building parking spaces of any kind is expensive and every product or service we buy has a hidden “parking tax” baked in.
Udrea, who worked for the city of Farmers Branch before coming to Dallas four years ago, sees the same scenario all over North Texas. “The first question for projects is always, ‘Do they meet the parking ratios?’ not ‘Do we need all that parking?’”
The Romanian-born urban planner, who spent the early part of her career working in European cities, yearns to see Dallas give the same weight to concerns about other means of transportation, particularly to people on foot or on bikes, as it does to cars.
Udrea said her team will next return to the City Plan Commission’s Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee with results from one parking test case and a roadmap for getting to a vote by both this group and eventually the City Council.
“I am very impatient to get back to parking,” she said. “I had hoped to already have it done, but we are getting there.”
Everyone wishes we had gotten to this restart more quickly. Now that we’re here, make sure your point of view is heard at City Hall.
