There’s been a lot of talk lately about parking (or the lack thereof) at new apartments and condos. Gary Davenport, who has been following this issue closely for OKNA, provided this primer.
High Density Onsite Parking Requirements:
- Applies to lots zoned CM, CS, RX, CX, CO1 within 1,500 feet of transit and light rail stations that offer 20-minute frequency during peak hours.
- Based on the number of apartment units in building.
- Buy Downs are various ways that a developer can reduce the number of required units.
- No Minimum number of spaces can be reduced more than 50 percent using buy downs.
Minimum Requirements are based on total number of units:
| Number of units | Number of required onsite parking spaces* |
| less than 31 | 0 |
| 31 – 40 | 20% |
| 41-50 | 25% |
| more than 50 | 33% |
* Does not include “buy downs” which can reduce the required minimums by no more than 50 percent.
Buy downs:
| Description | Number/percentage reduction of required spaces |
| Preserve onsite tree 12″ diameter | Max 2 space reduction or 10% of total required, whichever is greater. |
| Bicycle parking | Applies for up to 25% of required parking. 5 non-required bike spaces = 1 auto space. |
| Motorcycle parking | May substitute for up to 5 auto spaces or 5% of total auto spaces, whichever is less. 4 motorcycle spaces = 1 auto space. |
| Car sharing | May substitute car sharing for 25% of required auto spaces. 1 car sharing space = 2 auto spaces. |
| Bike sharing | May substitute up to 25% required auto spaces. 15 bike docks + 8 shared bikes = 3 auto spaces. |
Three development scenarios:
Developer One wants to build a 30-unit apartment project without any onsite parking spaces.
Parking computation: Portland does not require any onsite parking for building up to 30 units.
**
Developer Two wants to build a 40-unit apartment with the absolute minimum number of parking spaces.
Parking computation:
- Required parking spaces for 40 units = 40*.2 = 8 spaces.
- Developer Two can reduce the 8 required spaces to 4 spaces with the following buy downs:
- Add a bike rack that accommodates 10 bikes (reduces by 2 spaces)
- Add one car sharing space (reduces by 2 spaces)
Summary:
Developer Two can build a 40 unit apartment with 4 parking spaces, a 10-unit bike rack and 1 car sharing space.
**
Developer Three wants to build a 270-unit apartment with the minimum number of spaces.
Parking computation:
- Required number of spaces = 270 * .33 = 90 spaces
- Developer Three can reduce the 90 spaces to 45 with the following buy downs:
- Add a big bike rack to accommodate 110 bikes (reduces by 22 spaces)
- Add 11 car sharing spaces (reduces by 22 spaces)
Summary:
Developer Three can build a 270-unit apartment with 45 parking spaces, a 110-unit bike rack and 11 car sharing spaces.