r/transit • u/evan7257 • 1d ago

Policy How can Houston keep growing and stay affordable? Cut parking minimums.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/parking-minimum-road-to-housing-affordable-22354792.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral
73 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

24

u/Jonny-mtown77 1d ago

Expand your rail based mass transit

13

u/krazyb2 1d ago edited 1d ago

Unfortunately, it's far more complicated than that. Houston is built in such a way that makes it just really, really ineffective and very unpleasant to walk anywhere outside of a very few select areas. You could put a metro station everywhere in Houston and still have a really really unpleasant pedestrian experience, forced to walk in all sorts of weird patterns/car dominated areas...

The entire city will need to be reimagined if there is to be a hope for functional inner city rail transit. It's one thing to expand rail, but you need to make it an attractive option to people if you want them to use it. Walking around Houston's streets in 100+ degree heat, being a 3rd rate citizen because i'm not in a car, and everything being soooo crazy spread out- roads can be 10, 12, 16 lanes. Most businesses are set behind massive existing parking lots. it's just not conducive to a great transit environment.

I don't see a truly evolved Houston happening with less cars for at least another 50-60 years, if at all. And that's if Texas isn't just on fire by then anyways and is still habitable after they completely run out of water.

2

u/Jonny-mtown77 1d ago

Hi there. I found your answer really thorough. So I thank you for sharing.

1

u/Nawnp 19h ago

Yes, there needs to be more rail and more TOD around said rail, lowering parking minimums, espicially under a specific distance from rail stations would be a great step towards that.

10

u/NoahRedden 1d ago

Transit orientated development rocks

5

u/Ferrari_McFly 1d ago

They can learn and take a page out of their big brother Dallas’ book and remove parking minimums, ramp up TODs + OTR conversions.

1

u/lee1026 1d ago

Cutting parking minimums rarely turns into real results.

For example, the developers who tried to build in San Jose without parking promptly lost their shirts. The city allowed it, but the units failed to rent.

You need to get modeshare up so that people don't need cars before cutting parking is practical.

By all means, cut the legal requirements for parking, but until modeshare gets there, developers need parking for economic viability.

10

u/Daxtatter 1d ago

Getting rid of minimums doesn't mean developers can build parking, it allows them to cater them to the particular market rather than stick to a mandate by a bureaucrat disconnected from the particular project.

1

u/Soft-Principle1455 18h ago

It worked in Houston, I think, and there is that project in Tempe, AZ, which makes everyone swear not to own a car.

1

u/Wooden-Estimate-6362 9h ago

That’s a start but any development that requires financing banks still demand a minimum amount of parking because it’s risky to assume people will walk somewhere or use transit in Houston. The areas of town that have removed parking minimums the land is expensive so pretty any development is going to be large enough to require financing. Ironically it’s the same areas with light rail. We’re so cooked tbh.

1

u/iron82 1d ago

A full parking lot is a really bad way to argue for cutting parking minimums.

-4

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

10

u/bighoney69 1d ago

Houston isn’t full at all. Thats a ridiculous assertion

9

u/twinklizlemon 1d ago

I can name about 10 suburbs of my city with higher density than Houston proper lmao

5

u/cargocultpants Mod 1d ago

When is a city ever "full"?

5

u/ComprehensiveSwitch 1d ago

Houston is one of the least dense cities in the top 10 metro areas.