The city’s old parking regulations date to the 1950s when it annexed vast areas of the Northland and was promoting suburban-style development.  This led to wasteful land use in the Northland that discourages transit, walking, and bicycling.  Meanwhile, unrealistic parking requirements discouraged redevelopment in urban areas where there is no land for vast parking lots or garages. Small businesses and start-ups were especially hard hit by outrageous requirements for excessive parking capacity.

The new development has a much more rational parking policy that essentially reduces the amount of parking necessary for new developments.

Downtown Loop – There are now no parking requirements within the Loop.  Developers are free to decide how much or how little parking they need.

Crossroads District – Parking requirements were dramatically reduced.  Entrepreneurs looking to redevelop Crossroads buildings will no longer have to provide suburban-scale parking in this dense urban neighborhood.

Transit-oriented policies – Businesses  near rapid transit lines like the MAX now have a reduced parking requirement, and in some cases actually have a cap on the maximum amount of parking they can build.