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this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
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As far as I'm aware, the big issue is the parking minimums at businesses, not residential buildings. I.e. what you call point B, rather than point A. That's what basically forces huge unwalkable strip malls. Which forces them out of the city. Which forces people to always drive there.
Now, the numbers in Nashville do seem a bit high. But the alternative to built-in parking spots in residential buildings is street parking, which costs just as much as built-in parking, but is entirely paid for by taxes instead. Street parking also takes up space that could be used for protected bike lanes.
The alternative to resident parking isn't street parking but to provide residential parking as determined by the developer and purchaser. You're not going to sell a condo if there's no parking and prospective buyers need to drive. Likewise you'll make better sales if you sell a condo without parking for a lower price to people who don't/can't drive. Let your local developers work with their civil engineers to figure out the best bang-per-buck of housing to parking spot ratio with each property they work on. I'm sure there would be fewer spots built near transit and downtown but fully loaded with parking on the edge of town; a nuance often missed in one-size-fits-all regulations.
Also the alternative to private parking is not necessarily street parking. You can:
Street parking shouldn't be free anyway. Free parking limits developments from building parking! Why would they build an expensive spot when there's plenty of "free" parking instead. Even post-sale you'll see the effect of free street parking. Look at your neighbor's garage. Do they park their car in there or do they use it for storage and instead park on the street? Free street parking is free real-estate.
The problem of "not enough street parking" can be solved by internalizing the price of parking. For example, San Francisco adjusts meters up and down until spots are between 60% to 80% filled. Price adjustment also signals the true cost of driving to the driver of the car rather than spreading their choice's cost across everyone in the city/county/state.
I agree! I'd rather street parking not exist. See the thread on Japan's zero street parking strategy for their solution to parking (spoiler: it doesn't include parking minimums).
However, a small side note. You don't necessarily need protected bike lanes if your streets are slow enough, which is often a desirable feature of residential neighborhoods. The oft-cited Netherlander's civil engineering calls them "fietsstraat" (cycle street). San Francisco calls them slow streets.