ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the process used to repeal parking requirements during a wholesale zoning reform and discusses outcomes for development and multimodal transport planning. Buffalo eliminated all parking requirements in the city's new zoning ordinance, adopted in January 2017. While the new zoning code in Buffalo no longer requires off-street parking, parking remains subject to regulation. Parking accommodation is typically required by local zoning codes, which means a minimum number of off-street parking spaces for new developments must be provided. Parking requirements are an integral part of zoning codes and can be restructured in ways that activate streetscapes and spur revitalization. By reforming the parking requirements, planners can address: underused land in central cores; downtown development pressure; and ineffective one-size-fits-all mandates. Urban planners, city officials, and the general public in various locales have grown concerned with these consequences and have begun to broadly question minimum parking requirements.
