Olympia commission proposes reducing parking requirements for housing near bus lines
The Olympia Planning Commission is proposing eliminating the requirement for parking spaces at apartment developments near public transit routes in an effort to expand the overall housing supply and make it easier to build more housing types.
But the plan was met by nearly a dozen public comments during a hearing March 20, most opposed to the plan. Opponents say the plan was put together too hastily and that parking is a necessity for low-income households who can’t risk relying on public transportation.
The Planning Commission has extended the public comment period to Friday, April 7, in an effort to give the public more time to take in the modifications and give the city feedback on how it could improve parking requirements around high-density areas.
Joyce Phillips, principal planner for the city, said updating parking requirements is needed because it could help increase the housing supply in Olympia. She said it’s estimated Olympia will need 14,000 new housing units by 2045, and there’s a lot of land being taken up by parking lots.
According to a 2020 survey for the City of Lacey that Phillips referenced, a single parking space is 330 square feet when including driving aisles. A 30-unit apartment complex would currently require 45 spaces, or approximately 13,000 square feet dedicated to concrete.
And they’re expensive. Surface parking costs $6,000 per stall. Structured or elevated parking costs $20,000 to $25,000 per stall. An underground parking garage can cost $50,000 per stall.
Highlights of proposed changes
For apartments with three or more units, the Planning Commission wants to eliminate the minimum parking requirement. That would mean a developer doesn’t have to include any parking spaces at a new apartment complex.
The maximum requirement would be reduced from 1.5 spaces per unit to 1.25 spaces. A 100-unit apartment complex could have anywhere from zero to 138 spaces, including a 10% window the city gives developers.
An update to code language would allow developers to make parking modification requests up to plus or minus 40%, meaning they could be approved for more parking spaces. But Phillips said the city doesn’t often get these types of requests.
The current requirement for single-family homes is two parking spaces. The commission is proposing changing that to 1 to 2 spaces, if the home is within a quarter of a mile of a public transportation stop. The same wiggle room would be given to townhomes and duplexes.
The commission also is suggesting requiring studio apartments to provide both short- and long-term bicycle parking. There are already bicycle parking requirements for other housing types, Phillips said, but studio apartments were left out of previous rules.
Phillips said she imagines that while parking wouldn’t be required in the future, developers would continue to build parking depending on the need and specific project. She said even with parking exemptions already in place downtown, developers still usually build 0.7 to 0.8 spaces per unit.
Public comments
Olympia resident Larry Dzieza said neighborhood associations and councils weren’t made aware of the plan to get rid of the minimum requirement until about a week before the public hearing. He said that’s not enough time for the public to learn about the new amendments and have their voices heard.
Judy Bardin had the same concern and asked for more time to review the amendments. She said she used to live in northwest Olympia, where mail trucks would only deliver if they had space to park in front of a house. She said doing away with parking could exacerbate that problem and make it harder for city services to access garbage bins, fire hydrants and more, if people are forced to park on the road.
Bardin said there are a growing number of incentives for people to switch to electric vehicles, but without parking spots, she said people won’t be able to charge their cars. And the city’s transportation system is limited on weekends and holidays, she said.
Bardin said she hired an Olympia woman to do some work at her home, and it took the woman more than two hours to get across town using buses. She could only work for about an hour or so before she had to leave to catch the last bus back home.
Beverly Bassett said there are many bus stops around the city, but buses can be hard to catch and it can be hard for some residents to get to a stop.
Bassett said there’s no rapid transit in the city, with none planned in the future. She said many people have children and more than one job, and some might work odd hours when buses aren’t running. She said most Olympians have cars and need them to get around.
“I am infuriated and disgusted by the city’s and the planning committee’s callous disregard for the ordinary people of Olympia,” Bassett said.
Olympia residents Maggie Flemming and Charlotte Persons said there’s no underlying support network for public transportation and it isn’t feasible to make families rely on an unreliable system.
However, Ethan Magnuson spoke in favor of the parking amendments. He said he’s been taking part in the series of planning meetings around the Capital Mall Triangle Subarea Plan, and he’d like to see the city move away from car dependency and more toward other modes of transportation.
But as the city’s parking requirements stand, he said they incentivize business owners and apartment developers to build further away from downtown where they can build larger parking lots. Magnuson said getting rid of the minimum requirement could incentivize building in more dense areas and improving public transit.
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