San Jose, Calif., recently became the largest U.S. city to strike down minimum parking requirements for new housing development.
The city reversed zoning devised in the 1950s that reputedly gave it the worst sprawl of parking space in northern California. The council abolished standards that required new single-family homes to have two covered parking spots. The old standard also mandated restaurants provide one spot for every 40 sf or 2.5 dining room seats, whichever were greater.
In its first significant shift in parking rules since 1965, the council also aims to promote other modes of transportation with new bicycle parking mandates, including requiring one bike for every two lanes at bowling alleys and at least one bicycle spot for every 800 sf at restaurants.
The new rules do not prevent developers from building parking lots in the city, but allows them to “rightsize” parking for new developments as they deem appropriate. The action does not remove any current parking.
Related Stories
| Jun 17, 2013
DOE launches database on energy performance of 60,000 buildings
The Energy Department today launched a new Buildings Performance Database, the largest free, publicly available database of residential and commercial building energy performance information.
| Jun 13, 2013
AIA partners with industry groups to launch $30,000 'Designing Recovery' design competition
The program will award a total of $30,000 to three winning designs, divided equally between three locations: Joplin, Mo., New Orleans, and New York.
| Jun 12, 2013
5 building projects that put the 'team' in teamwork
The winners of the 2013 Building Team Awards show that great buildings cannot be built without the successful collaboration of the Building Team.
| Jun 11, 2013
Vertical urban campus fills a tall order [2013 Building Team Award winner]
Roosevelt University builds a 32-story tower to satisfy students’ needs for housing, instruction, and recreation.
| Jun 11, 2013
Finnish elevator technology could facilitate supertall building design
KONE Corporation has announced a new elevator technology that could make it possible for supertall buildings to reach new heights by eliminating several problems of existing elevator technology. The firm's new UltraRope hoisting system uses a rope with a carbon-fiber core and high-friction coating, rather than conventional steel rope.
| Jun 5, 2013
USGBC: Free LEED certification for projects in new markets
In an effort to accelerate sustainable development around the world, the U.S. Green Building Council is offering free LEED certification to the first projects to certify in the 112 countries where LEED has yet to take root.
| Jun 4, 2013
SOM research project examines viability of timber-framed skyscraper
In a report released today, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill discussed the results of the Timber Tower Research Project: an examination of whether a viable 400-ft, 42-story building could be created with timber framing. The structural type could reduce the carbon footprint of tall buildings by up to 75%.
| Jun 3, 2013
6 residential projects named 'best in housing design' by AIA
The Via Verde mixed-use development in Bronx, N.Y., and a student housing complex in Seattle are among the winners of AIA's 2013 Housing Awards.
| Jun 3, 2013
Construction spending inches upward in April
The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that construction spending during April 2013 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $860.8 billion, 0.4 percent above the revised March estimate of $857.7 billion.
| May 30, 2013
The Make It Right squabble: ‘How many trees did you plant today?’
A debate has been raging in the blogosphere over the last few months about an article in The New Republic, “If You Build It, They Might Not Come,” in which staff writer Lydia DePillis took Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation to task for botching its effort to revitalize the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
