Creating People Powered Places
Parking Minimums Text Change
This week, the City of Raleigh Council worked to remove parking minimums and start parking maximums city-wide. Oaks and Spokes believes that our community deserves better transportation outcomes and that this text change will be critical to helping realize a more sustainable + equitable future for the next generation to inherit.
You can read the letter we submitted to council this week in support of these changes, below:
After this text change, we had individuals seeking clarification on ADA accessibility and access. We wanted to emphasize that this change will not impact the ADA parking requirements and regulations that require spots to be allocated when parking is built for those with limited mobility. We strongly support additional spots being allocated through the on-street parallel parking program (more information and a map for that program, here). Able bodied households should not be taking up parking that needs to be available for those with limited mobility – and we will continue to work + advocate to ensure that adequate parking is available for those that need it.
Council Member Melton summarized this text change well, stating: “Eliminating parking minimums doesn’t eliminate parking. It eliminates the mandate on how much parking needs to be provided. For a really long time, we have prioritized spaces for cars over places for people, and that needs to stop.”
To build a better tomorrow, we have to be willing to let go of the policies and patterns that are no longer serving us and our community. Raleigh will be a happier, healthier and more climate resilient community if it encourages a built environment that puts people and places first. We applaud this effort and look forward to seeing it’s impact throughout our community in the coming years.