Curses! Foiled again... by zoning!

Parking

by David Alpert • May 29, 2008 8:03 am

Here's a great example of why we need to get rid of parking minimums. The owner of a former KFC at 15th and Pennsylvania SE (a block from Potomac Ave Metro) wants to make the neighbors happy by building a two-story building over the entire lot instead of a (legal) four-story building on half the lot. Covering the whole lot is good, since it will create a continuous line of buildings instead of big gaps near the corner. There's just one problem: current zoning laws mandate 28 parking spaces.

Photo by thomashawk on Flickr.

Will the neighbors support the project with no parking? Will the Zoning Commission? Will DC fix its parking laws before too many travesties occur? Will the new zoning actually fix the problem? Find out on the next exciting episode of Adventures in Bad Zoning Laws!

I'd also argue that we should allow more height right around the Metro at such a busy intersection, by the way, but that's an argument for another day. Via Ryan Avent.

1 comment — Share	— tags: Capitol Hill, DC, parking minimums

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Pop the top or pack 'em in the back? (Apr 23, 2008)
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Comments

I did a little math (and posted it on Ryan's blog) - 28 parking spaces (using an average of 450 sf for each space and its share of common circulation space) would take up almost as much square footage as the entire proposed building - ~12,500 for the parking, compared to ~13,500 proposed for the structure. This is for a lot that's probably only 7,000 sf large - 8,000 tops.

It's not just the parking requirements - this is a major problem when you try to arbitrarily legislate and quantify qualitative issues of urbanism.

by Alex B. on May 29, 2008 4:16 pm