Shifting to More Progressive Parking Policy: An Examination of Parking Management Strategies to Complement the City of Ottawa’s Updated Minimum Parking Requirements
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Authors
Hanifi, Michael
Date
2018-04
Type
Language
en
Keyword
Urban Planning , Transportation Planning , Parking Policy
Alternative Title
Abstract
The purpose of this report is to provide recommendations on parking management strategies that can further complement the City of Ottawa’s parking management goals. This report examined the City of Ottawa’s 2016 Zoning By-law update for minimum parking requirements (MPRs) in Ottawa’s inner-urban area, along inner-urban mainstreets, and near rapid-transit stations, as outlined in Schedule 1A of the Zoning By-law. It asked the following two research questions:
1. How is the City of Ottawa’s 2016 minimum parking requirements update meeting its intended effect in the inner-urban area?
2. What are the best complementary parking management strategies that could support the City of Ottawa’s current parking management goals in the inner-urban area?
To answer the first question, six development applications from before the MPR update and six from after the update in a specific ward within the inner-urban area were examined. These applications were examined to determine, if given the option for lower or removed MPRs, developers were opting to build to the new minimums. This helped explain the influence of the new MPRs on parking supply choices and the potential need for additional strategies to further encourage parking supply reduction. The Rideau-Vanier ward was selected because, in terms of development applications, it was the most active ward since the MPR update. The results indicated that, after the MPR update, developers were providing a mix of parking supply. Some supplied parking to the new MPRs, while others supplied much more. The results showed there is room to provide more complementary parking strategies to encourage developers to provide less parking in the ward, thus being more consistent with the City of Ottawa’s goals for the area.
To answer the second question, best practices from case studies and parking management strategies were examined in Chapter 5 and 6 of this report. In Chapter 5, four noteworthy municipal case studies were researched to provide takeaway points on implementing progressive parking management strategies. These municipalities were: Halifax (Nova Scotia), Portland (Oregon), Seattle (Washington), and Birmingham (England). Information was collected through comprehensive research on their parking strategies, plans, and policies. In Chapter 6, four specific parking management strategies were studied. In 2008, Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute examined best practices on parking management strategies. Strategies in this report were selected based on that work and include: parking maximums, pricing parking, unbundled parking, and financial incentives. Further information on parking management strategies was collected through a review of academic literature.
Ultimately, this report recommended short-term, medium-term, and long-term strategies based on the early results of Ottawa’s 2016 MPR update in the inner-urban area. It also examined best practices on parking management strategies that can be used to complement Ottawa’s current parking goals going forward.
The report concludes that the City of Ottawa should further explore the parking management strategies and recommendations outlined in this report to complement its current and future parking and planning goals. The recommendations are to be used as a guide to further study and establish strategies that can impact how parking is supplied and how parking demand is managed in the inner-urban area. While market forces continue to play a dominant role in the amount of parking that is supplied, complementary parking management strategies that incentivize the reduction of parking spaces and that recognize the benefits of providing less parking can better influence developers to remove parking oversupply. Moreover, to be truly effective, these strategies need to work congruously with one another and the results should be continuously monitored.