Will Reducing Parking Mandates Increase Housing?

Vehicles spend most of their time parked. And because of that, for years cities have dictated how many parking spots developers should include based on sometimes arbitrary numbers. But do those numbers still make sense and could reducing them allow for more housing and development? An increasing number of cities are getting rid of those so-called parking mandates or parking minimums, including Cincinnati. 

Interview guests: Author of The High Cost of Free Parking Donald Shoup, President of the Parking Reform Network Tony Jordan, Cincinnati Councilmember Jeff Cramerding and City Officials from Buffalo, Minneapolis and Tulsa.

Brick by Brick Website

Transcript

Ann Thompson:

Even though it may not feel like it sometimes Cincinnati has an overabundance of parking. One study estimates 1.3 million spaces. That's enough for every person to have more than four parking spots. Could that space be put to better use, like more housing?

Tony Jordan:

A car being stored in a space is about the least productive land use that you can come up with. So pretty much anything is a better answer than use it to park a car.

Ann Thompson:

Cincinnati isn't alone in its creeping blacktop. Our country has 2 billion parking spaces according to some estimates, that's the size of the entire state of Connecticut. And engineers calculated we have more square footage of parking than people. Ever wondered how much it costs to build a parking spot in a garage. It's about $28,000, and that doesn't include the cost of buying the land.

Councilmember Jeff Cramerding:

Parking adds a tremendous amount of cost to housing.

Ann Thompson:

Just how much more green space, bike lanes or apartments could we add? If cities didn't mandate the number of parking places?

Chris Hawley:

Buffalo was the first municipality anywhere in America to completely eliminate minimum parking requirements. I think we definitely understood that minimum parking requirements were one of the most harmful regulations on the books.

Ann Thompson:

Cincinnati is about to change its parking requirements as part of a new zoning planet passed called Connected Communities. On today's episode, we examine just how far the parking policy goes and what difference it could make. Not all neighborhoods are on board, especially those with scarce parking already.

Steve Goodin:   

The idea that we're just going to totally do away with cars and the need for parking is a little naive to me.

Ann Thompson:

And author of the High Cost of Free Parking Donald Schoup says it's not about getting rid of cars, just the extra parking spots. We hear from him and from other cities who've reduced parking minimums. Is it working for them? Plus TikToker the Happy Urbanist? 

Jon Jon Wesolowski:

What’s this Star Wars droid looking thing on the streets of Cincinnati?

Ann Thompson:

Why? He says businesses should embrace parklets instead of parking spots. Let's get into it. This is Brick by brick Solutions for a thriving community.

Ame Clase:

Brick by brick is made possible by Brick is made possible thanks to leading support from Debra and Robert Chavez and Greater Cincinnati Foundation. With additional major support from AES Ohio Foundation, Laurie Johnston; Susan Howarth Foundation, the George and Margaret McLane Foundation, Diane and Dave Moccia, The Dayton Foundation, the Robert & Adelle Schiff Family Foundation, and more. Thank you.

Ann Thompson:

Hi, and welcome to Brick by Brick, where we're highlighting of solutions for a thriving community in southwest Ohio. I'm your host, Ann Thompson. Cincinnati has just passed some changes to its zoning code, the proposals known under the banner of Connected Communities. Proponents say it will create more housing by allowing duplexes, townhomes, and previously prohibited missing middle housing and by reducing required parking. Mayor Aftab Pureval says more housing is critical because the city's population has been growing for 10 years.

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval:

In that same time period, you would expect our housing stock to stay flat or keep pace with that population increase. Unfortunately, it's the worst case scenario in many of our neighborhoods where we're actually losing housing stock.

Ann Thompson:

The plan, which Brick by Brick detailed in part in episode three is not without controversy. A May 17th planning commission meeting we covered lasted seven hours as the commission considered the plan and eventually approved it. More than 80 people spoke, some in favor and some against.

Ann Wagner:

Such different neighborhoods, and yet one thing unites us, opposition to this policy. Not a single community council has come out officially in support of this legislation. What's even more telling is who has, developers, their lawyers, and their advocacy groups, all of whom will profit grandly from this legislation.

Dave Bushong:

I'm in favor of the connected communities plan to increase housing supply, increase affordability for all Cincinnati residents and reduce restrictions on development.

Ann Thompson:

Theoretically, connected communities could go into effect immediately because it's classified as an emergency ordinance, but most likely the city will wait a month, giving time to implement maps and update the website. We encourage you to check out episode three of Brick by Brick to fully understand the components around thickening up our neighborhoods with more density and housing types. In this podcast, we're examining the parking reforms and how reducing the number of required spaces could help make communities thrive and exactly what Cincinnati will change about its parking. A little historical context first. So where did the idea of free parking come from anyway? Well, it was the 1950s and more people were buying cars and fewer were taking public transit. Cities allowed residents to park for free outside their homes and all lure others downtown. They created plenty of parking lots and parking garages. It wasn't a very scientific process and involved a lot of guesswork, but cars take up a lot of space, spending 95% of their life parked. Some argue all those parking spaces could be better used, including Donald Schoup, author of the High Cost of Free Parking. He says an off street parking space typically occupies 330 square feet when you average the space and the driving lanes around it. He compares it to housing a person.

Donald Shoup:

One study that I know of tried to look at the number of square feet of housing in the United States, and when you divide that by the population, we have about 800 square feet of housing per person. But for just three parking per car, that's a thousand square feet, but that's more space for a car than for a person,

Ann Thompson:

And most cities have between three and eight spaces per car. In his 752 page book, Shoup says parking mandates increase the cost of housing, create traffic congestion, and pollution by encouraging cars, reduce walkability, accelerate global warming, and penalize everyone without a car. He says off-street parking is free to drivers because it's built into higher prices for housing. A 2017 study found garage parking adds 17% of the cost of rent. Shoup explains there is a subsidy and that is the difference between the capital and operating costs of providing the space and the price a driver pays for parking in it. He estimates that in 2022, the total subsidy for off-street parking was between 300 and 916 billion a year. That compares to the US defense budget of 766 billion. Why is there so much of it? Because cities require it. Zoning code dictates the number of parking spaces for apartments and businesses. With recent changes in Cincinnati, there are now no parking minimums for existing building renovations known for developments along major corridors and for the rest of the city residential parking minimums are reduced to one space per unit. You can see a map of the impacted areas on our website, cetconnect.org and thinktv.org. President of the parking reform network, Tony Jordan read Donald Shoup’s book and won cities to eliminate parking mandates. He says 60 to 70 cities have done it in the last year.

Tony Jordan:

Reforms that are sweeping the nation aren't actually even getting rid of parking. They're just getting rid of this rule that, for example, says in one city, a bowling alley might require two parking spaces per lane or one parking space per every 50 square feet in a funeral home and a city 10 miles down the road might require six parking spaces per lane and one parking space per every 500 square feet in a funeral home. These numbers are way off.

Ann Thompson:

Jordan says, we're missing out on housing because of the parking decisions we have made in the past. He says, building missing middle housing is difficult. If you require two to three spaces per unit, according to Jordan, instead of 30 apartments with 30 parking spaces, you might get 40 apartments with 30 parking spaces.

Tony Jordan:

You're going to get additional housing units and we desperately need those. I like to say if we had not had these rules over the last 40 years, imagine every apartment building having five or 10 more units in it. That would be a huge amount of housing that we have just basically prevented for no good reason.

Ann Thompson:

Donald Shoup is seeing this in real time with a 100-year-old two story office building in Hollywood, California,

Donald Shoup:

But the parking performance removed is now an eight story apartment building with 69 apartments, nine of them for low income people and no off street parking. Now that would seems so unusual is to be miraculous to see that kind of change so quickly.

Ann Thompson:

Shoup says many cities don't go far enough like Cincinnati. He proposes not only removing minimum parking requirements, but charging the right prices for curb parking and spending the curb parking revenue to pay for added public services on the metered blocks. To be clear, however, Cincinnati is not making any changes to how it manages curb parking. Council member Jeff Cramerding is Chair of the Equitable Growth and Housing Committee, which approved the plan and sent Connected Communities onto the full council.

Councilmember Jeff Cramerding:

This was a moderate approach. It is a test case, so as we move forward, we could expand it and if some of the problems that people foresee come to fruition, we can make changes as appropriate.

Ann Thompson:

In the meantime, Cramerding is looking to developers to increase the housing supply with a decrease in elimination of parking minimums.

Councilmember Jeff Cramerding:

One of the things we have learned as a council and as a city when we're trying to bring housing online, I mean providing those parking spaces, 1, 2, 3, that adds a tremendous amount of costs. So if you don't have to add those parking spaces, the cost to build is less.

Ann Thompson:

He says one reason the city has targeted the changes around main thoroughfares is because of expanded bus service where people won't need to drive. A little known fact is that in 2015, Cincinnati did reduce parking along the streetcar route and it helped create more housing. Land use Attorney Brad Thomas says condominium projects on Race and Elm have benefited from these changes also parking related. This year, Cincinnati banned new downtown surface parking lots. Council member Mark Jeffreys, who introduced the ordinance, says these surface lots contribute to poor air quality, stormwater runoff, and urban heat. The ordinance did not ban temporary parking lots. You may be wondering how much of a difference eliminating parking minimums could make right here in Cincinnati. So did we and we found a possible test case where one neighborhood was able to decrease its parking even before the city did as a whole. Brick by Brick’s. Hearns Lagierre Jr. Is here to explain. Hey, Hernz. Hello Ann. So Hernz, it's been a couple years since the neighborhood we're talking about, Camp Washington, was able to change its parking mandates.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Yes, and they were able to do that through a unified effort from the businesses and residents there. To better understand the impact these new rules might have we spoke with a few stakeholders from Camp Washington and they all agreed parking minimums can get in the way of the local economy. We also spoke with a local affordable home builder who works in other neighborhoods in Cincinnati to learn how eliminating the parking minimums could positively impact housing. Take a listen. 

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Beginning in 2017, Tony Ferrari, co-owner of Mom and Em, Coffee and Wine in Camp Washington, had difficulties expanding his business parking mini         mum requirements created an extra hurdle for his development. He originally planned to run his business a different way.

Tony Ferrari:

This was actually the original plan was for an Airstream land yacht coffee bar to be on this land and then we were going to landscape it to sit in,

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

But the cost of construction for the parking was so high he thought he might as well purchase a building, which he did in 2019, but the square footage of his floor plans required even more parking. The city gave him a solution.

Tony Ferrari:

They encouraged us to put it in a lot next door, which was empty at the time, and or continue to knock down buildings in order to build a bigger footprint for parking. How dare the city or even us to think we can just come in here and start bulldozing people's houses down to make more parking spots

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

And it's not just Cincinnati. There are cities all over the country that tell developers, small businesses and homeowners how many parking spaces they need. Tulsa City Planner Nathan Foster says these parking minimums are arbitrary and they don't even reflect the actual needs of a specific development. 

Nathan Foster:

We very often are advocating for a lesser parking requirement, not just for housing development, for development across the board because I think we understand really a negative impact that it has on the development of our city.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Back in Cincinnati, where Sydney Prigge, executive director at the Camp Washington Urban Revitalization Corporation or CWURC for short, tells us parking minimum stifled their development.

Sidney Prigge:

So Camp Washington is surrounded by highway and railroad. We are a unique neighborhood in the fact that we have industrial next to residential. We still have a lot of our original form, so you'll see a lot of historic buildings, whether that be commercial, industrial or just small business, business district stuff.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

When developers try to renovate these historic buildings created before parking minimum requirements, they still must adhere to the citywide minimum parking laws. With a neighborhood nestled between a rail and a road, you only have one option if you want to renovate.

Sidney Prigge:

In order to do that, I'd have to demo our historic structures. It's not what we want to see.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Prigge realized the neighborhood didn’t want parking minimums.

Sidney Prigge:

So if you're doing a project and it doesn't meet your parking requirements, you have to come to the community council meetings, talk about your project and then get a variance. So properties wanted to do an artist gallery, Mom and Em's, they needed so much parking and we're so happy that those businesses continued, but there's businesses that just said that's too much work.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

So the neighborhood collaborated on a solution that the Cincinnati City Council approved on June 4th, 2021. A parking overlay was established that lifted minimum off street parking requirements in that area. A parking overlay is a tool used to override parking requirements within its boundary.

Sidney Prigge:

So when you go for a parking overlay, you have to get neighborhood support of anyone within the boundary. We didn't have any feedback on negativity because people wanted to see projects moving forward

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Like Ferrari's mom and them, which had to restrict their growth when they first opened because of parking.

Tony Ferrari:

Fast forward two years, two years later, we actually got rid of parking in Camp Washington together, so we were able to expand the footprint, which is what we did after the fact.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

And Tony's hoping to do more than expand his business.

Tony Ferrari:

We definitely want to develop more sort of multiunit mixed use buildings to bring more density, bring more residents, and hopefully bring more businesses as well,

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

And that's the effect parking has on development. Check this out. The average parking space is 162 square feet. About six parking spaces had the same footprint as a duplex. Fifteen parking spaces have the same footprint of a single family home. So in areas that don't demand parking, advocates say the spaces typically saved for cars could be put to better use for public gatherings, businesses or more housing outside of the Camp Washington neighborhood. Organizations like nonprofit Habitat for Humanity are navigating parking minimums. Habitat creates and preserves opportunities for affordable home ownership. Morgan Ford is with Habitat. Ford says parking is an extra hurdle with developments like one of their single family homes in the Lower Price Hill neighborhood.

Morgan Ford:

We try to keep costs down so that we can keep our affordable home ownership program going, but when you have to keep adding the cost of parking on top of what our already cost is, it can get extremely high there. What is

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

The normal additional cost to add parking to a home like this?

Morgan Ford:

Sure, it can cost up to $40,000 extra on top of what we've already have to add to the

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Home without parking minimums. Ford predicts more development of homes and more opportunities for home ownership.

Morgan Ford:

If we don't have to put parking right here, we can say, Hey, let's do a duplex, let's do a triplex. We can very creative, but sometimes the parking minimums can be very challenging to work around,

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Which is one of the reasons Ford supports the city's proposed zoning reforms. The savings that you'll make if you don't have to get parking, if you don't have to create parking in some of these homes, what could those finances be used for to help people who need homes like this?

Morgan Ford:

Well, for Habitat for Humanity, we work off of donations, fundraisers, government funding, donations from churches as well, so utilizing that money and not having to use it towards parking can allow us to go from building 20 homes to up to 40 homes

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Regardless of where those homes are built. Reducing parking minimums may offer neighborhoods a chance to design housing and businesses that fit their needs like Camp Washington

Tony Ferrari:

Now with no parking requirements. There should be no reason why we can't get back into commercial spaces, have more small businesses open up more retail, activate the Coran corridor. Again, there's just so much opportunity here and we've since then seen so many more people come in the neighborhood and open and take the risk and follow suit with all of us that have come and set up shopping. They're doing really well.

Ann Thompson:

Thanks for that. Hernz. I guess that many people would be surprised what kind of a difference that either eliminating parking mandates or reducing them could make.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Yeah, I was surprised myself, and I think one thing we can learn from Camp Washington's parking model is that parking can be a hindrance for certain neighborhoods. Camp Washington had a unique situation. Their landscape prevented them from expanding outwards, so the only way that they could get any type of development was tearing down their historical buildings and they did not want to do that. Also, remember that every neighborhood is different. Camp Washington wanted more density. They also are historically in an industrial neighborhood, so the noise, the activities, the development that normally comes with that, the folks over there weren't scared about that at all. Also, according to Sidney Prigge, she said, business owners, artists, property owners, residents, a lot of people there wanted walkable, friendly, safe neighborhoods, and that's what we're expected to see in the coming years for Camp Washington.

Ann Thompson:

And how about for Habitat for Humanity?

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Yeah, Morgan  took me to one of the single family homes in Lower Price Hill and with that home, they already had an alleyway so they don't have to spend as much for that particular home to reconfigure it to a parking space, but they're not always blessed with that. As she said, they could spend up to $40,000 just for parking, and that money could be used to help lower the mortgage for the family moving into that home. But because of parking minimums, they can't do that. They have to use a large portion of their donations for parking spaces alone.

Ann Thompson:

Thank you, Hernz. We'll wait and see how that benefits them. We'll catch up with you later for the takeaways. Cool. 

Coming up on Brick by Brick, Dayton looks to decrease its parking mandates outside of downtown.

Tony Kroeger:

We’re open minded to any sensible solution that somebody has for parking

Ann Thompson:

And what changes other cities who've eliminated parking minimums are noticing, plus Cincinnati neighborhoods prepare for reduced parking and some don't like it. That's ahead on Brick by Brick.

Ame Clase:

Brick by Brick is made possible thanks to the generous support of so many, including Murray & Agnes

Seasongood Good Government Foundation, Rosmary & Mark Schlachter, The Camden Foundation, Patti & Fred Heldman, DeeDee & Gary West, The Stephen H. Wilder Foundation, Judith & Thomas

Thompson... a donation in memory of Frank and Margaret Linhardt, and more. Thank you. We couldn't do this work without you.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Hey, it's Herns Laguerre Jr., One of the team members behind Brick by Brick. Our new show is about solutions for a thriving community, but if you think about it, we all have a different perspective of what a thriving community should look like. That's why we need to hear from you. We want to know what a thriving community looks like to you. Maybe it's more housing, more parks or stores or even safer sidewalks. Whatever your vision, we hope you'll share with us. You can do that by heading to the Brick by Brick Show page on cetconnect.org or think tv.org. There you'll find an audience question button, just fill out the survey and that's it. We look forward to sharing your hopes and dreams with the rest of our neighbors and future episodes. Thank you.

Ann Thompson:

Welcome back to Brick by Brick. We started out focusing on Cincinnati's parking mandates, but we want to broaden that out a bit now to see what we can learn from other city's practices or outcomes. First, let's turn to one of Cincinnati’s nearest neighbors, Dayton. Dayton's current zoning code doesn't require any minimum parking for housing units in downtown Dayton. Tony Kroeger is the city's planning division manager.

Tony Kroeger:

We'll continue to look at our parking requirements outside of downtown. Like I said, we cut them back from 1.5 per unit to one per unit, which in aggregate can make a huge difference in the number of parking spaces that are required. Not once can I think of a scenario where we said, you must build more parking than you need because everybody loses. 

Ann Thompson:

There are those who say Dayton has too much parking. The Dayton Daily News drove around and reported on a Tuesday afternoon in February, there were only 63 cars parked in the city owned Oregon District Garage, which has more than 1700 spaces. In addition, the Parking Reform Network found a third of the central business district is off street parking. According to Kroeger, that's not because the city requires it. He says it's just that developers want to include a parking solution.

Tony Kroeger:

We have conversations with prospective developers all the time and say, Hey, look, we don't want to make you build more parking than you need. That's not good for anyone.

Ann Thompson:

Kroeger says, Dayton is always looking at what other cities are doing. As you heard in the open, Buffalo, New York became the first US city to eliminate parking minimums in 2017. Two years after it did that, a study showed nearly half of all developments included fewer parking spaces and so did mixed use developments. But senior planner Chris Hawley says Buffalo thought parking would decrease more.

Chris Hawley:

I think one of the surprising things we discovered when we eliminated minimum parking requirements, was really how many development projects were still providing a lot of parking even though they were no longer required to do so.

Ann Thompson:

Hawley says, in some cases, banks still require a certain number of parking spaces per unit. Minneapolis, Minnesota eliminated parking minimums in 2021. The city's planning director, Meg McMahon says It has been immensely impactful, especially in the creation of more housing,

Meg McMahon:

And that has unlocked infill sites that otherwise would not have been available for development because they needed to provide onsite parking and there just wasn't space.

Ann Thompson:

One reason McMahon knew it would work is even before Minneapolis passed these parking changes, there were certain test cases throughout the city or pedestrian overlay zones without parking minimums. The city saw examples of projects that were financially feasible because they didn't have to provide parking. Because of some opposition. Tulsa, Oklahoma is taking a more targeted approach. It eliminated parking minimums downtown and reduced them 50% in surrounding areas. This was based on the success of certain targeted areas. Principal planner, Nathan Foster says the city is trying to remove itself and allowing the market to make those decisions more on its own.

Nathan Foster:

It seems like the interest is there and really the message of what the overlay did is still kind of getting out there to people as to what the available opportunities are. So I expect we'll continue to see more interest and certainly some more development.

Ann Thompson:

There apparently is interest nationwide and revising or removing parking mandates in a survey done for the Pew Charitable Trust, looking at 10 policies to encourage development of more and lower cost housing, 62% favored the elimination of parking mandates. We also checked in with some other regional cities about parking, including Hamilton and Springfield. You can read about them@ctconnect.org and thinktv.org.

Katie Frazier:

We think that the time to act is now to ensure that Cincinnati can produce the housing it needs to continue to support neighborhoods like Northside.

Ann Thompson:

This Northside group is on board, but many Cincinnati residents are taking a wait and see approach. The Clifton Community Council known as the Clifton Town Meeting wanted a six month moratorium because it had too many questions. President Steve Goodin is a zoning attorney and said he didn't even understand parts of Connected Communities. One concern is parking. Goodin says it can be a challenge in Clifton.

Steve Goodin:

With UC’s undergraduate population poised to grow by 12,000 to 15,000 students, we could start to see a lot of undergraduate student housing kind of shoehorned in.

Ann Thompson:

Steve Vogel is director of the Mount Adams Civic Association, where parking is also a concern. He says, Connected Communities doesn't fit all neighborhoods.

Steve Vogel:

Mount Adams is an example of where there are unique differences. Again, platted in 1875 before cars were even considered, there are a number of houses, many houses up there that have no driveway or garage, and they do require to park offsite. So what is the answer to that concern? And we've not been informed of an answer.

Ann Thompson:

Vogel says, the city should have contacted neighborhoods for revisions to Connected Communities. Brick by brick brought these concerns to the city, and a spokesperson said Cincinnati did listen to residents, property owners, and renters as well as developers and housing funders, and as a result, limited the most significant changes to neighborhood business districts and transit corridors. You can read how other feedback was integrated at cetconnect.org and thinktv.org. We'll stay in touch here at Brick by Brick so we can all better understand the outcomes in the meantime. Did you know parking reform is also the topic of TikTok videos? Meet Jon Jon Wesolowski or the Happy Urbanist on TikTok. Five years ago, he noticed the Chattanooga neighborhood he was living in was becoming a blacktop parking lot in part because of bad parking policies.

Jon Jon Wesolowski:

There are policies in place that sort of necessitate this overabundance and need for parking to the detriment of everything else. Housing expenses, housing costs.

Ann Thompson:

Wasowski works with the parking reform network, advocating cities get rid of parking minimums, and he looks at better uses of parking spaces while in Cincinnati for the strong towns and Congress for new urbanism conferences, he posted this on TikTok talking up a parklet. It's a sidewalk that's been extended into parking lanes for outdoor dining.

Jon Jon Wesolowski:

If you own Rosie's Italian and two friends decide to meet up and park right here, you're going to stay here for an hour and you can't keep your restaurant running off two individuals. But contrast that with this parklet with two dozen people or so in it, that's bringing in a lot more money. And this isn't just anecdotal. Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia have all done studies on the economic viability of Parklets and have found that they don't just bring in extra money for the nearby businesses, but also the block as a whole.

Ann Thompson:

Wesolowski also looks at how safe the parklet is. That Star Wars droid looking thing he was talking about at the start of the episode, is a concrete pillar reinforced with metal rebar. It sits near some galvanized steel planters and surrounds the places people sit. They would protect the patrons. 

We want to hear from you as Brick By Brick develops more episodes. Go to our website, cetconnect.org and think tv.org where you'll find a big green button to give feedback. That's where you'll also see related articles, a link to the podcast and Hernz's video stories as well as online extras. We'd love to hear from you. 

Ann Thompson:

We welcome Emiko Moore to the studio.

Emiko Moore:

Hi

Ann Thompson: 

Hi and Hernz Laguerre Jr. is with us remotely. 

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Hello everyone. Before we get into the takeaways, I must admit that Jon Jon segment was interesting. We don’t normally think of urban redevelopment as being the most TikTok friendly topic. But, he was able to make it engaging and fun and honestly, very digestible for the average person to understand on a popular platform. 

Emiko Moore:

I liked how he made it simple and easy to understand. 

Ann Thompson:

I really agree with that Emiko, but let’s guys get back into the takeaways where we reflect on the solution that we have presented here. Emiko what kind of stuck out in your mind? 

Emiko Moore:

For me, I think cities need to take a look at their parking laws. Some of them are really outdated and are they  really helping cities or are they hindering development and communities? What really struck me is Tony Ferrari of Mom and ‘em Café in Camp Washington…his beautiful outdoor seating area, when we were here that day it was filled. It was busy. People were engaged. He said had he followed the parking minimum requirements that whole area would have been a parking lot, to me a huge loss for the community. 

Ann Thompson:

He was the one person who kind of drove this home to me in the beginning when I was learning about parking minimums. He just conceptualized what this whole thing could be about.

Emiko Moore:

And you would see the priority, if that were the case, the priority would have been cars in that area. What we saw was people enjoying coffee, food and conversation. 

Ann Thompson:

What about you Hernz?

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

You know, after Connected Communities passed, Councilmember Victoria Parks, she voted no, but her vote was really a yes AND, pretty much saying that although she is in favor of Connected Communities, she knew there was more that could be done to appeal to the broader aspect of affordable housing. But that made me think of Morgan Ford said. She said if we reduce parking minimums Habitat for Humanity can go from about making 20 homes to 40 homes because of the savings they will make and not having to budget to create parking in areas where they don’t need it. 

Ann Thompson:

That could make a difference. Councilmember Meeka Owens wanted to know for the Planning Department-how are you going to know if Connected Communities is working. Well, the Planning Department says they plan to track the data in real time. They didn’t go into a lot of specifics but I imagine that would mean how the zoning changes translate into the missing middle housing and whether the elimination or reduction of parking minimums is making a difference, possibly whether or not it would create more housing. Any final reactions guys?

Emiko Moore:

This is going to really hold the councilmembers accountable when they say they can deliver. 

Ann Thompson:

Hernz?

Hernz Laguerre Jr.: 

Yeah, and it will be interesting getting those updates because you have a topic like Connected Communities that some people are for, some people are against and I believe the updates will help not only holding City Council accountable, like Emiko said, but also give updates on how density is actually affecting the city.

Ann Thompson:

Thanks guys.

Emiko Moore:

Thank You

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Thank you 

Coming up on the next episode of Brick By Brick, an increasing number of cities, including Cincinnati and Dayton are now allowing something called an ADU or Accessory Dwelling Unit, also known as Backyard Cottages and many other names. This man owns one in the West End.

Gerald Bates:

Not only did it provide income, but it provided sort of security to have someone living on the property other than yourself.

Ann Thompson:

And these Backyard Cottages help fill the gap in housing options and affordability. That's next time on Brick By Brick. 

That's our show. If you like what you hear, please rate and review our podcast. It helps make finding the pot a little easier. You know what else does? Sharing it with your friends and family. For Hernz Laguerre Jr. and Emiko Moore, I'm Ann Thompson. We'll be back soon with more solutions. Take care.

Our show is produced, hosted an edited by me, Ann Thompson with reporting and story editing from Hernz Laguerre Jr. and Emiko Moore. Our Executive producer of Mark Lammers. Our show consultant is Gloria Skurski. Gabe Wimberly is our audio engineer and mixer. Zach Kramer runs the lights and cameras. Derrick Smith is our production specialist and Jason Garrison is our production manager. Kellie May heads up our marketing and promotions, along with Mike Shea and Bridgett Dillenburger. Elyssa Stefenson handles the website and Steve Wright is our designer. Bill Dean and Andres Kruza are the engineers for the show and our Chief Content Officer is Colin Scianamblo. Our music is from Universal Production Music. Brick by Brick: Solutions for a Thriving Community is a production of CET and ThinkTV, Southwest Ohio PBS member stations.