Minimum Parking Requirements and Their Effect on the Parking Industry

 

By Junior Khan, CAPP

 

Minimum parking requirements have damaged the parking industry and their removal will result in unavoidable changes that will determine the future of the industry.

For those unaware, minimum parking requirements are zoning laws that mandate the number of parking spaces any property or business must have. This sounds like a good thing, but the number of parking spaces these laws require has far exceeded the demand for over 30 years. This has resulted in huge tax losses for American cities, sky-high development costs, and a huge over-capacity problem.

Cities all over the country are removing minimum parking requirements at an ever-increasing rate. This is both good and bad for the industry. There will be a reduction in available parking contracts as low-viability lots are redeveloped. Public transit will ultimately lower parking demand. The upside however is that more high-value contracts like parking buildings and mobility hubs with integrated transit will be built. There will also be an increased demand for valet and shuttle operations making these segments of the industry more profitable.

Ultimately, a change to fewer more valuable contracts and integration into public transit is inevitable. It is up to each company to adapt to this new way of doing business.

Junior Khan, CAPP,  is General Manager for Elite Parking Services of America, Inc. He can be reached at juniorkhan@eliteparkingSOA.com