Supporters of eliminating the minimums include Mass Landlords, the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Strong Towns Worcester, the local chapter of the Minnesota-based urban planning advocacy group.
Worcester is weighing reducing or eliminating minimum parking requirements, a move advocates and City officials have said could spur housing production and free up planning resources.The Worcester City Council’s Standing Committee on Economic Development voted unanimously on Thursday to file a report from the Worcester Planning Board calling for simplified and reduced parking requirements. Committee Chairman and Councilor At-Large Morris Bergman simultaneously issued an order directing the City’s Economic Development Office and city manager to draft a zoning ordinance amendment to reduce off-street parking ratios across Worcester.The specifics remain to be determined.Worcester’s 2024 Now | Next citywide plan called for the reduction of elimination of off-street parking minimums. City officials and transportation advocates have said mandating certain levels of parking based on a parcel’s use hinders economic growth.A 2023 study from Parking Reform Network found 35% of Worcester's downtown is devoted to parking. IMAGE COURTESY OF PARKING REFORM NETWORKCities including Cambridge, Hartford, and Minneapolis have eliminated their minimum parking requirements.Supporters of eliminating the minimums include Mass Landlords, the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Strong Towns Worcester, the local chapter of the Minnesota-based urban planning advocacy group. More than a dozen people testified in favor of reducing or eliminating parking minimums, according to a video of the meeting.Michael Kane, director of economic development and public policy at the chamber, testified that reducing parking minimums would encourage more housing development, creating construction jobs and spurring growth of local businesses.No councilors or speakers argued against reducing parking minimums, although Bergman stopped short of supporting eliminating minimums entirely. “Those of us that have been on the council long enough remember some of the neighborhood leaders who used to advocate strongly for not reducing the parking requirements, because they felt that a lot of people would park in front of established houses with driveways,” Bergman said. “There's a balance to be drawn there.”The planning board has expressed openness to eliminating off-street parking minimums, while the Zoning Board of Appeals frequently hears requests to provide variances to parking requirements to reduce the number of required spaces, said Peter Dunn, chief development officer for the City.Peter Dunn, City of Worcester chief development officer“We have a significant volume of variance applications to the Zoning Board of Appeals for reductions of the required off-street parking, more than 90% of them get approved,” Dunn said. “This is a reflection of us recognizing as a community through the regulatory bodies that we have that the zoning ordinance is calling for too much off-street parking.”Dunn said he anticipates his office submitting specific recommendations to the council and planning board sometime in the fall. Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the real estate and banking & finance industries.Â
