One of the things 34-year-old Becky Stand appreciates about living in the Crossroads is that she can hang out at First Friday’s without looking for parking.
But when asked how she feels about doing away with the requirement that businesses provide parking, she bristles. She has difficulty walking, but still enjoys the coffee shops, restaurants and markets of Kansas City’s entertainment districts — River Market, Crossroads or Brookside. Parking, she says, is increasingly a problem.
“Over in River Market can be really rough, especially if you're there for the farmers market or for a soccer match,” she said. “Recently, I had a leg injury, and when I was in a wheelchair … trying to go to a (soccer) game ... we ended up not going.”
Jaxon Himel, 26, also lives in the Crossroads and enjoys First Fridays without having to park. But he used to meet friends Kansas City's Westport entertainment district. Not anymore.
"(Parking) is definitely a factor in why I don’t go down there,” Himel said.
On April 20, the Kansas City Council rolled back a 1951 mandate that new development, such as apartments, restaurants, or businesses, create a certain number of parking spaces. Most of the council supported it, claiming the requirement suppressed the growth of small businesses and affordable housing. But some residents and visitors say it will exacerbate an already nightmarish parking problem.
Chris Koch serves as the president of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association. He is worried that eliminating the requirement will mean residents who live along Armour Blvd. will have fewer places to park. He says the 1,519 residents along Armour have only 643 dedicated off-street parking places. There is some parallel parking along Armour and a few dozen shared off-street parking stalls, but they don’t come anywhere near meeting the demand.
“(Parking around here) equates to a parking ratio of 1 stall per 2 residences,” Koch said. “This is the challenge our community faces, which has forced overflow parking onto the 18 adjacent side street blocks.”
Koch also said he does not believe eliminating minimum parking requirements will spur affordable housing growth.
“Developers already charge tenants anywhere from $25 to $110 in add-fees for off-street parking,” Koch said. “So there really is no savings at the end of the day should a renter choose not to own and park a vehicle in midtown.”
He, along with the rest of the neighborhood association, has put out a letter of opposition asking the council to reconsider their decision for further revisions and discussion.
But supporters of the ordinance, which passed on an 11-2 vote, insist it’s needed.
They claim the 75-year-old ordinance was making it hard for new small businesses to open up and for developers to build new housing without creating parking lots. The ordinance requires a new apartment, for example, to provide one parking space for every unit. A new restaurant - 10 spaces for every 1,000 square feet it encompasses.
Mayor Quinton Lucas said getting rid of the minimum parking requirements put Kansas City closer to becoming a walkable city.
4th District Councilman Eric Bunch co-sponsored the ordinance. He said the additional parking lots sometimes meant developers had to knock down existing structures.
“(Like in) a historic district,” Bunch said, “where the only option might be to tear down another building to identify that parking. (The new ordinance) opens up the opportunity for more projects, especially more small businesses, without the burden of arbitrary parking minimums established by the city.”
