End mandatory minimum parking requirements

Idea:

Minimum parking requirements are outdated and waste precious space to densify. Our City still requires new development of homes or businesses to have a certain amount of parking space dedicated per square footage or per resident. Towns and cities, like Edmonton, Lunenburg, Vancouver, and many US cities have successfully stopped this practice to improve human-scale density, infilling, boosting affordable housing, and increasing pedestrian traffic. It's a win-win for businesses and residents, plus it increases the City's tax revenues. I invite you to check this great video from Strong Towns about it! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUhOFUQDLQk

Staff Feedback:

Thank you for submitting your big idea! We are glad to see a growing interest in new urbanism practices from our residents, such as eliminating mandatory parking requirements. As we continue to grow and re-evaluate our standards year-over-year, how we deal with vehicle parking is always in the conversation.

Currently, we’re pleased to note that in our Central Business District, there are many uses that do not have a mandatory minimum parking requirement. Furthermore, one of the new amendments we approved to allow what we call ‘Workforce Housing’ in our commercial areas has set a minimum parking requirement of 0.25 stalls/unit and a maximum of 1 stall/unit.

While we recognize these standards do not go as far as the parking requirement changes seen in some municipalities such as Edmonton, we are making continued progress to shift towards a less vehicle-centric culture, supporting alternative transportation modes and thereby reduce the demand for parking. It is important that we are considering the burden that would be placed upon on-street parking infrastructure if we haven’t provided adequate off-street infrastructure in new developments. We do plan to lower our minimum requirements gradually over time and your voice in this matter is valued. We encourage you to advocate for the Fredericton you wish to see when these matters - and others like it - come forward at City Council.