Parking minimums

Part 2

Last week we started on “parking minimums,” demanded from all building owners or property developers before a “permit” is given for them to start. These requirements are usually enshrined in state building codes and city zoning ordinances, in our case, the National Building Code of the Philippines. This is always a point of contention between “permiters” and “permitees,” and oftentimes a source of corruption. Of course, as we have stated in previous articles, parking spaces cost a lot and takes a major portion of the total cost of a building or development, which owners and developers hate as these eat up their profits.

Parking minimums started not without any sense. As automobiles started running at the start of the last century, they needed to park, too. In fact, as we have stated in our previous write-ups, these cars are parked 95% of the time. Where should they park? Aha! Both the homeowner and the places and buildings where they go should provide them. Otherwise, they will just park on the streets. Which will eventually result in traffic congestion. So, cities in the US and Europe came up with “minimum requirements” for parking.

Engineers and architects are too familiar with these ultimatums: For office, residential and recreational buildings: At least one parking slot for every 100 square meters of Gross Floor Area (GFA). Restaurants: At least 3.3 parking slots for every 100 square meters of GFA. Buildings for educational use: One parking slot for every three classrooms. For hospitals: One parking slot for every 12 beds. The list is long but quite similar among countries and cities; sometimes general, other times very detailed. It’s always based on something – area, persons, rooms, beds, etc. One use we have not come across though – funeral homes – how do we define the minimum? The number of caskets? Or maybe the number of rooms used for wakes.

It all seems very logical but at a closer look, may not be. For example, one parking slot for every 12 hospital beds – does it mean only one patient for every 12 gets there by car? Maybe so if we assume most of them were carried by ambulance. But what about the visitors? We assume only one of every 12 visitors go there by car? That does not include the doctors and other hospital personnel who might or might not go there by car – there are the people who park the whole of eight hours. Same goes for schools.

Maybe somebody can, but we have tried our best to look for previous studies upon which these “parking minimums” were based, but couldn’t find any. Maybe you could. In all probability, we have these because we copied from somebody else, assuming somewhere back there, perfectly good research was made. But today, more and more cities are abandoning parking minimums already. Most of them are in the US, San Francisco is one of the latest that did. They’re the first ones to realize and act on it because they’re the first who became a car-centric society in the first place. (To be continued)