HomeMy WebLinkAbout11042025 Planning & Zoning Laydown - ParkingEliminating Parking Minimum
Requirements in Seward
A Proposal
Brenan Hornseth
Seward Alaska Planning & Zoning Commission
October 31, 2025
Table of Contents
Eliminating Parking Minimum Requirements 2
What are the effects of Parking Minimum Requirements? 3
Parking Minimums Conceal the True Cost of Parking 4
Parking Minimums Cause Too Much Parking to Be Built 5
Parking Minimums Cause Higher Costs for Development, Including Housing 6
Example: A Small Mixed Use Building on An Auto Commercial (AC) Lot Downtown 6
Parking Minimums Cause Land Use Distortion 6
Parking Minimums Would Not Allow Much of Seward to Exist in its Current State if Rebuilt Today7
Second Avenue Properties Sample That Do Not Meet Parking Minimums 8
Fourth Avenue Properties Sample That Do Not Meet Parking Minimums 8
Fifth Avenue Properties Sample That Do Not Meet Parking Minimums 8
Sixth Avenue Properties Sample That Do Not Meet Parking Minimums 9
Parking Minimums Discourage Walkability and Encourage Sprawl 10
Parking Minimums Are Bad for the Environment 11
Parking Minimums are an Equity Issue 12
Parking Minimums Are Overkill in Seasonal Towns 14
Parking Minimums Favor One Development Over Another 14
Parking Minimums Cause Permanently Unused Empty Spaces 16
Parking Minimums Undermine Missing Middle Housing 17
Concerns And Solutions when Eliminating Parking Minimums 20
Were Seward's Parking Minimums Carefully Designed? 20
Can't Parking Minimums Be Updated to Reflect Seward's Needs? 20
Does Removing Parking Minimums Mean Removing All Parking? 20
What Happens if There's Not Enough Parking? 20
What If I Don't Want to Pay For Parking? 21
What is Going on With The Harbor Paid Parking 21
Should Seward Build a Parking Garage? 21
Can Seward Charge for Parking on Third Avenue? 21
What About Parking Spillover? 21
What About Congestion? 22
What about Overnight Parking in Some Areas? 22
What about Loading Zones? 22
What about American Disabilities Act (ADA) Parking? 22
Has This Worked Anywhere Else? 22
Can this really work in Seward? 22
I Like Parking Minimums Because They Hold Back "Insert Undesirable Development Here" 23
What Could Paid Public Parking Look Like? 23
What Can Parking Benefit Districts Do? 23
Conclusion 23
Sources Cited 24
Eliminating Parking Minimum Requirements
Any development today in Seward must abide land use regulations. One part of those planning and land use
regulations is parking minimums requirements (hereafter referred to as just "parking minimums" for brevity).
For example, to build a single family home, two off-street parking spaces on the property must be provided.
Or to build an office building, one off-street parking space is required per 500 square feet of floor area of the
Page 2
building. These parking spaces are to be included on the private land being developed. Parking spaces in the
public right of way does not count toward these parking minimums.
The problem is that land use codes that specify parking minimum requirements do not improve public health
or safety, and do not effectively promote orderly development. This proposal asserts that developers, land
owners, or builders should decide how many spaces to provide for each development, rather than being forced
to provide a minimum number. Seward's parking minimums do more harm than good and the best thing
to do is repeal them completely as many other cities have done.
What are the effects of Parking Minimum
Requirements?
Parking minimums were designed to ensure enough parking is built for personal motor vehicles. Though at
first glance they may appear to be harmless, they have many side effects including:
• concealing the true cost of parking
• causing too much parking to be built
• causing higher development costs including housing
• causing land use distortion
• preventing classic housing and development
• discouraging walkability and encouraging sprawl
• contributing to pollution and environmental impacts
• causing equity issues
• being overkill for seasonal towns
• favoring specific types of development
• causing permanently unused lots
• undermining missing middle housing.
Let's examine each of these effects in more detail.
Page 3
Parking Minimums Conceal the True Cost of Parking
$3, 000
$4,000
Gri
t $3,000
a
O $2,000
0
$1,000
N
• so
❑ Operating Costs
IAConstruction Costs
■ Land Costs
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Figure 1: The cost of a single parking space ranges from $600 to $5,000 per year
How much is a parking space worth? Depending on the location and materials of the parking space surface,
the range is from around $600 per year to $5,000 per year. A 2025 study by the Victoria Transport Policy
Institute on parking in North America found that "For every dollar a motorist spends on their vehicle
somebody typically spends about a dollar for its parking facilities. Most of these costs are born indirectly
as higher taxes, rents and retail prices, plus environmental damages. These external costs are
economically inefficient and unfair since they increase total parking costs and traffic problems, and force
households that drive less than average to subsidize higher -mileage motorists..."'
Because parking spaces are required to be bundled with every building constructed in Seward it is hard to get
an itemized breakdown of the cost of parking alone, however the annual cost of each space can be estimated (
Figure 1).1 Though it hidden, the price is still there, driving up the cost of living of everyone in Seward,
including those who do not drive a vehicle.
Page 4
Parking Minimums Cause Too Much Parking to Be Built
Seward's Planning and Zoning Commission held several work sessions in 2025 about parking. At the May
20th 2025 meeting the public provided feedback on how different and unique actual parking requirements can
be for every property, even for the same type of land use2. A recurring theme was that the parking
minimums are very often too high and cause more parking to be built than is necessary.
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Figure 2: Seward's Harbor. Parking areas shown in red
Page 5
Parking Minimums Cause Higher Costs for Development,
Including Housing
Seward's codes outlines the minimum number of parking spaces necessary for any type of development that
is going to take place. The following illustrates how parking minimums drive up housing prices by
restricting what can be built.
Example: A Small Mixed Use Building on An Auto Commercial (AC) Lot
Downtown Street side of property
Imagine a developer wants to build downtown on a standard lot size
of 30'x100' (Figure 3). If zoned Auto Commercial, it can have 50%
lot coverage. Someone who wants to maximize their space may
want to build a 1,500 square feet structure footprint (the gray
rectangle in Figure 3), leaving 1,500 square feet of open space. A
desirable mixed -use design might be a retail store on the bottom
floor, an office on the middle floor and three -bedroom unit on the
top floor, as they are the most needed type of housing in Seward'.
The parking requirements for this development from bottom to top
floor are five spaces, three spaces, and two spaces for a total of ten
spaces.
Code defines a parking space as 9'x18' (172 square feet), but with
ten spaces required, that's a total of 1720 square feet, more than
the remainder of the open space on this lot.
As parking is not allowed within 5' from a side property line, the
usable space for parking is only 10'x20' on one side of the building
and 15'x20' on the other, meaning it's impossible to fit more than
two parking spaces with this design. Parking requirements stop
this type of development completely.
It can be made legal by reducing the size of the building or by
adding another lot (or two) to the development — just for parking,
but this drives up the cost per square foot as parking is not
productive space and land is a fixed cost.
Parking Minimums Cause Land Use
Distortion
Q1
Jl
0
parking space
Buildable area
5 _ 20' 5'
Alley side of property
Figure 3: Parking on a
30'x100' lot
Parking lots, when designed to the requirements of Seward's parking code, can take up more land than
the buildings they serve. This requirement shapes cities. Think about driving to and parking at strip malls,
such as those in Wasilla or Big -Box Stores like Walmart in Anchorage. Although those are extreme examples
that do not exist in Seward, the design of those places are the end result of parking minimums and off-street
parking - huge swaths of land purely dedicated to parking with a relatively small building. Seward does not
have enough land to support that kind of development, but it does have the same kind of parking
requirements.4
Page 6
500
4.0
400 -
u.
2 300
a'
200
100 -
0
• Landscaping
Driveway
• Access Lane
• Parking
On -Street
Compact, Urban, Full-size, Urban,
Off-street Off-street
Figure 4: Off-street parking takes up even more space than on -street parking1,11,20
Full-size, suburban,
off-street
Parking Minimums Would Not Allow Much of Seward to Exist
in its Current State if Rebuilt Today
Imagine a large tsunami (just a thought exercise, hopefully) wiped out all of Seward and it had to be rebuilt
today, what could be built with our modern codes? Some structures could not be built because they do not
meet modern fire and safety codes, but many things could not be rebuilt or used as they currently stand
because of the parking minimum requirements.
The following is by no means an exhaustive list, but was simply created by walking a few blocks of several
streets in downtown Seward outside of the Central Business District, which does not have parking minimum
requirements, and taking notes. This was followed by a little research on the borough's parcel viewer.
This list includes a diverse set of properties that are non -conforming with Seward's parking code. Some
properties do not provide any space for off-street parking, some properties only use the parking available in
the right of way, and others have have off-street parking that is used. However, all do not have the required
number of off-street spaces required by current code.
Page 7
Second Avenue Properties Sample That Do Not Meet Parking Minimums
Address
No space for
off-street
parking.
All parking done in
right of way.
Notes
203 Second Ave.
X
X
209 Second Ave.
X
X
215 Second Ave.
X
X
224 Second Ave.
230 Second Ave.
X
X
230 1/2 Second Ave.
X
235 Second Ave. and 239
Second Ave.
St. Peter's Episcopal Church & Parish
House - estimate at least 17 spaces
required by current code
308 Second Ave.
311 Second Ave.
321 Second Ave.
X
X
323 Second Ave.
X
X
336 Second Ave.
X
X
402 Second Ave.
X
X
Fourth Avenue Properties Sample That Do Not Meet Parking Minimums
Address
No space
provided for
off-street
parking.
All parking done in
right of way.
Notes
438 and 440 4th avenue
AVTEC housing, but zoned Office
Commercial instead of Institutional
meaning increased parking
minimums 13 units between the two
addresses requires 26 spaces.
502, 504, 506, 508, 510, 512,
514, and 516 4th avenue -
Townhouses
A nice set of townhouses
524 4th Ave
800 4th Ave
Woody's Thai Kitchen
Fifth Avenue Properties Sample That Do Not Meet Parking Minimums
Address
No space
provided for
off-street
parking.
All parking clone in
right of way.
Notes
400 Fifth Ave.
The American Legion - Estimate
parking requirements for this size of
a clubhouse at 34 spaces. The size of
the lot is close to meet that
requirement, but does not appear to
meet parking minimums
414 Fifth Ave.
13-unit apartment complex on 15,000
Page 8
Address
No space
provided for
off-street
parking.
All parking done in
right of way.
Notes
sq ft lot.
Sixth Avenue Properties Sample That Do Not Meet Parking Minimums
Address
No space
provided for
off-street
parking.
All parking done in
right of way.
Notes
600 Adams St.
X
X
604 Adams St.
X
X
304 Sixth Ave.
X
X
308 Sixth Ave.
X
X
335 Sixth Ave.
X
X
509 Jefferson St.
X
402 Sixth Ave.
X
X
408 Sixth Ave.
X
488 Madison St.
X
517 Sixth Ave.
X
X
520 Sixth Ave .
X
X
521 Sixth Ave.
X
X
525 Sixth Ave.
X
X
526 Sixth Ave.
X
X
528 Sixth Ave.
X
X
529 Sixth Ave.
X
X
535 Sixth Ave.
X
X
509 Monroe St.
603 Sixth Ave.
Quadplex on 6000 sq ft. lot. No
offstreet parking available off of
Sixth Ave., only room for 5 legal off-
street spots instead of the 8 (or more)
reqired
605 Sixth Ave.
Quadplex on 6000 sq ft. lot. No
offstreet parking available off of
Sixth Ave., only room for 5 legal off-
street spots instead of the 8 (or more)
reqired
In summary, from just a short walk through town the author was able to find over 40 properties that
would not meet parking code requirements if required to submit and have the city approve their
current parking plan as it is being used today. This sample includes many successfully operating
properties, despite not meeting parking minimum codes.
Page 9
Parking Minimums Discourage Walkability and Encourage
Sprawl
Parking Minimums cause development to cost more and use more land for parking. Developments that would
otherwise fit on a smaller lot without parking minimums end up requiring larger lots. Repeating this pattern
over and over causes locations of homes, businesses, services, parks, etc. to be farther apart, which in
turn encourages more driving while not investing in things like sidewalks and pedestrian -friendly
features.'
Walkability is considered one of Seward's strengths, and our youth, especially, value this (see Figure 5 and
Figure 6)6 since they cannot drive.We should be investing in what our youth need. Walkability benefits
everyone but parking minimums undermine wlkability.
What we love about Seward
Natural beauty
I like the small-town feel
Having access to hiking trails
Local businesses
The ocean
The outdoor activities
‘64%\Great community meeting
areas
How close everything is
Walkable downtown
My friends
Community events
Figure 5: Seward's high school students appreciate a "walkable downtown"
J
Page 10
What we love about Seward
Natural beauty Access to trails and beaches
Everything is in walking distance Safe and inclusive community
------- ----
Good places to hang out Four -wheeling and dirt biking
(pavilion, SeaLife Center, teen
and youth rec room, Avtec gym) Sports
Small-town feel
Good friends
vJarcl
Restaurants
Fishing
Figure 6: Seward's middle school students appreciate having "everything in walking distance"
Parking Minimums Are Bad for the Environment
Parking minimums are harmful to the environment by requiring personal vehicle use. Beyond climatic effects,
of which personal vehicles are a major contributor', vehicle use causes local pollution — air pollution from
internal combustion engines, but more importantly tire dust, and brake dust. Water pollution is also a major
effect with runoff of heavy metals, oils, antifreeze, and other fluids, as well as microplastic particulates from
tires.'
Tire pollution may only grow worse with the adoption of electric vehicles, which are heavier than their
petroleum -powered counterparts. Tires shed microplastics at an increased rate as weight increases. Runoff
from tires and road markings contributes to an estimated 35% of microplastics in the ocean.' Studies have
show that compound 6PPD-quinone, found in runoff from tire treads, is deadly for salmon and has been tied
to regular acute mortality events in Washington State.' Its effects on humans are still being researched.
Page 11
Parking lots themselves are also a contributor of runoff, they turn space which could either be used for more
productive uses — buildings, parks, etc. — that would otherwise be runoff barriers into open, non -vegetated
spaces.
Parking Minimums are an Equity Issue
Parking minimums only exist to ensure that drivers will have a place to park personal vehicles; however,
driving is actually a privilege and not a right. Drivers must meet minimum age requirements and undergo
training and testing before being permitted to operate a vehicle. A large percentage, around 36% according to
national trends (Figure 710), of Seward's population does not drive. This population includes the elderly, those
with adaptive needs, those who can't afford a car or lack access to car, as well children and teenagers not old
enough to drive.10 Requiring parking minimums for this population is not equitable. It is not fair to those
without a vehicle to require parking they will not use.
Table 1: POPULATIONS DEPENDENT ON NON -AUTO MODES
Total nondrivers: 103,998,856
Percent of population: 36%
Description
Percent of
population
Assumption
Total people
dependent on non -
auto modes
Total population over 10 Reference number from U.S, 289,483,529
Census
People of driving age Base estimate from Census.
who are in households May include people who are
where there are 2 or 9% not drivers but meet the
more drivers than aduftto-vehicle ratio
vehicles parameters.
People with disabilities
(18+)who either don't
drive or don't have car
access
12.6%
Estimate using CDC's Places
and the Federal Highway
Administration's National
Household Travel Survey
People who are 75+ in a
car household with Estimate using data from the
constraints on their 2% National Household Travel
driving but without a Survey
"travel -limiting" disability
Young people (ages
10-15)
People who are 16+ in a
household without a car
Census -based estimate.
Includes people under legal
7,5 % driving age but with
independenttravel needs
and abilities
26,092,093
34,633,696
5,835,991
21,673,860
Census -based estimate of
5,4% adults living in households 15,763,217
with no vehicles
NRDC
Figure 7: National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) study of Americans without cars
Beyond those who really can't drive, there is another large percentage of the population, who given a choice
would not choose to drive for every trip (Figure 86); however, the built environment, of which parking
minimums are one of the leading causes of car dependency, often does not allow for any alternative.
Page 12
Land Use Survey Results
If there were safe sidewalks/trails, ! would use other forms of transportation other than a vehicle
Weather (cold and rain)
Live outside of town
Not enough time
Enjoy driving
Roads and sidewalks not
maintained (gravel in spring,
potholes and cracks, snow)
Transporting items (groceries)
Why people would NOT use
other forms of
transportation even if there
were safe sidewalks / trails
■ Agree • Neutral • Disagree
Figure 8: Most of Seward's residents would use other forms of transport, given a choice
Page 13
Parking Minimums Are Overkill in Seasonal Towns
Seward's population has large swings between the summer and winter months. In the shoulder -season and
winter months, when many of the businesses close and a fraction of the summertime population remains,
parking is rarely a challenge anywhere in Seward. The year-round population is left with vast swaths of
parking that is overbuilt for 7-8 months out of the year.
Figure 9: The Harbor Parking Lots spend more time empty than full
Parking Minimums Favor One Development Over Another
The numbers behind parking minimums have no basis in academically rigorous studies, but instead usually
reflect the copying and pasting of another city's code with minor tweaks depending on the whims of various
city councils and commissions over decades.' What is left is a mishmash of regulations that favor certain
styles of buildings over others, most often unintentionally. For decades Seward's parking code has favored
the building of hotels instead of apartment buildings.
Seward's code for apartment buildings requires "2 parking spaces per dwelling unit plus 1/2 space for every
unit larger than 2-bedrooms or greater than 1,000 square feet in size"
Meanwhile, the code for "Hotels and motels" only requires "1 space per guest unit."
A developer is going to have a much easier time meeting the parking minimums required for a hotel vs an
apartment building yet Seward's residents are twice as likely to oppose building a hotel as they are a
apartment building (Figure 10).6 Seward's code is full of this kind of parking -code -based favoritism in
ways that do not align with what Seward's residents actually want or need.
Page 14
What type of development do you oppose in Seward regardless of location?
Other
Short-term rentals
Tall buildings
Tourism focused development
Marijuana establishments
Hotels
Chain Restaurants/stores
Cruise ship industry expansion
Low income housing
Development that harms the environment
Apartment complexes
Alcohol Businesses
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
count
Figure 10: Seward's residents are more than twice as likely to oppose building a hotel than a
apartment complex
Page 15
Parking Minimums Cause Permanently Unused Empty Spaces
Three hotels in Seward have large swaths of offsite parking, of 20+ spaces each. These offsite parking lots,
according to their hotelier owners, are almost never used by their guests. The Hotel Edgewater (202 5' Ave.)
was actually built without a single parking space on site, but keeps 76 spaces at a remote lot (Figure 11)."
Yet, their remote lot is almost always empty, barely used even on July 3', the busiest night in Seward (Figure
12). Seward's parking code has locked up otherwise useful land that can not be used for anything but
parking, but even that is failing to be adequately used. The cost of this perpetually empty lot is passed on
to the guests of the hotels through higher prices, but also, to residents of Seward through the decreased tax
revenue of a useless parking lot.
Hotel Parking
Hotel / Motel
Zoning
District
CUP
Number of
Rooms
Required
Parking
Number of
Parking Spaces
Parking Agreement
Breeze Inn
HC
Yes
(to expand)
-100
1/room
101 (on site)
No
Harbor 360
HC
Yes
98
0.65/room
98
(66 on site)
Yes
(AKRR land)
Hotel
Edgewater
CB
Yes
76
1/room
None on site
Yes (21,000 sf of land
located on Fifth Ave)
Gateway
AC
No
74
1/room
74
(51 on site)
Yes
(AKRR land)
Hotel Seward
CB
Yes
(to expand)
62
0.78/room
(for expansion)
28 (on site)
No
Harborview Inn
AC
No
39
1/room
28 on site)
No
Murphy's
Alaska Inn
CB
Yes
(to expand)
34
0.82/room
20 Ion site)
No
Marina Motel
AC
No
' 31
1/room
-27 (on site)
No
Van Gilder
CB
No
23
None
None
No
Saltwater Safari
HC
Yes
9
0.5/room
5
(none on site)
Yes
(Gateway Hotel property)
Tides Inn
CB
Yes
9
None
None
No
A Swan Nest Inn
CB
No
6
None
6 (on site)
No
Figure 11: Parking at Seward's Hotels
Page 16
Figure 12: Hotel Edgewater Parking Lot July 3rd 2025 at 9pm: six cars/trucks, a motorcycle, a
trailer and a food truck. The Edgewater Lot provides 76 off-street parking spaces to meet code
requirements.
Parking Minimums Undermine Missing Middle Housing
The National League of Cities on missing middle housing: "Housing available for low- to moderate -income
households is in critically short supply in rural, urban, and suburban communities across the country. This
shortage in supply — often called `Missing Middle Housing' — can have serious ramifications on family
stability, neighborhood cohesion and workforce shortages. Middle housing is largely considered `missing'
because such building types have been often illegal or difficult to build since the mid-1940s due to
single-family zoning and building requirements for mid- to high-rise apartment buildings."'
The easiest thing to build when parking minimums exist are single -story buildings or single family homes.
Building single-family homes is not a bad thing in itself, but there is more to housing people than single
family homes - they are not a solution for everyone. Historically cities, Seward included, had more options for
people in all stages of life. Seward has low income, subsidized housing, but lacks housing for the lower -
middle to middle class income bracket. This includes families that can't afford a house yet don't qualify for
low income housing, young professionals looking to rent their first apartment, people moving to Seward and
wanting to get feel for the town, retirees on fixed incomes looking to downsize, etc.
Townhouses, apartment complexes, condos, duplexes, triplexes and more are all either illegal or
difficult to build, and one of the chief reasons is because of Seward's parking minimums.
Page 17
Greatest barriers to being able to rent a home
apartment in Seward
Lack of available rentals
Cost of monthly rent
Cost of utilities
Don't accommodate pets
Poor condition of available rentals
Rental space Is too small (need more bedrooms / storage
space)
IMMP
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Count
Figure 13: Availability continues to be a top issue for Seward's Renters
The price of homes and lack of available rentals both scored the highest areas of concern in a 2025 survey of
Seward's residents looking for housing (Figure 13 and Figure 146). Building the missing middle housing
directly solves these issues, but many regulations, including parking minimums, are holding it back.
Page 18
Price of homes
Competition from second home buyers
Lack of inventory
Cost and campI catioosto build a home
Poor quality of available homes (tin r•uppers)
Lack of vacant land
Mortgage interest rates
0
50 100 150 200 250
Count
Greatest barriers to purchasing a home
in Seward
Figure 14: Seward needs the lower -priced "missing middle" homes that it lacks due to parking
regulations
Page 19
Concerns And Solutions when Eliminating
Parking Minimums
Were Seward's Parking Minimums Carefully Designed?
There is surprisingly little thought behind most parking minimums nation-wide, Seward included. The
numbers for them are almost all arbitrary with little basis in studies or evidence. Most cities in the USA
have adopted parking minimums that are now over 50 years old, copied and pasted without much of a
concern of how they fit (or do not) to the city adopting them.' Various cities and their councils, or planning
commissions may have updated them over the years (Seward inherited its own from the Borough in 1989),
but they remain relatively unchanged. Most members of the councils or commissions responsible for enacting
the requirements have not been experts on parking - parking was not even considered a worthy topic of
academic study until the 2000s. As a result, the unintended consequences of these regulations have had
decades to build up culminating with the housing crisis affecting the nation today.
Can't Parking Minimums Be Updated to Reflect Seward's
Needs?
At first this may look like a tempting proposition, but in practice this is not feasible. Actual parking
requirements for a given development are so nuanced that it is almost impossible to lock them down to
a workable minimum — and often a reasonable minimum may actually be zero. Unfortunately this
"tweaking some numbers" approach is the path the current P&Z commission has chosen to take, but the
outcome of such an attempt is hardly fair and will continue to help some forms of development but
unnecessarily punish others and will continue to favor driving over all other forms of transportation including
walking or biking. The best reform is to remove parking minimum requirements entirely.
Does Removing Parking Minimums Mean Removing All
Parking?
Removing parking minimums will give each property owner and developer a choice over how much off
street parking to build. If the parking is actually being used, the logical choice would be to keep it. This
may lead to the removal of some excess parking, or developments built in the future that will have less off-
street parking, but it certainly would not mean the removal of all parking. Nor would it mean that new
developments would not include parking either. Some developments may not, but others would - it would be
up to each developer and they will build what the market demands.
What Happens if There's Not Enough Parking?
If there is not enough off-street parking provided by parking minimums, expect parking to occur in the public
right of way, i.e. street parking. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Street parking is a legal option city-wide.
In many areas of the city, residents and businesses regularly park in the right of way.
Removing parking minimums for properties will most likely slowly lead to an uptick in the right of way being
used for parking, but it will take time. Street parking can be regulated by charging a price, but only in areas
that regularly run out of public parking. By charging the right price the market can balance the demand of
street parking and off-street parking. Removing parking minimums lets property owners make the
decision to set aside space to park on their land or pay the price to park on the street.
Page 20
What If I Don't Want to Pay For Parking?
Most areas of Seward would not need to have paid parking, there is simply an oversupply of parking currently
that would negate that. Street parking would only need to be charged for in the densest areas of town, areas
where public parking is filled up completely, likely areas of the central business (CB) and harbor commercial
(HC) districts. Even then it may not have to be the whole district and could be implemented block by block.
The HC district charges for parking, but free parking can still be found, including some 30 minute
parking spots, so that residents can still visit local businesses for errands. In all areas paid parking would
only most likely only be needed during the busy summer season.
What is Going on With The Harbor Paid Parking?
Comments from the comprehensive plan survey and citizen comments at various City Council and Planning
and Zoning meetings have remarked about the harbor parking situation. They range from comments that
parking can always be found and is no problem, to the polar opposite of no parking being available and calls
for the city to construct a parking garage. The city might have better data on what the actual parking use is for
that area, but based on the complaints, it is likely that something needs to be changed.
What could be done for the harbor parking is to determine and charge the right price for parking
through monitoring so that around 85% utilization is achieved.13
Should Seward Build a Parking Garage?
One idea for the harbor area or downtown is that the city should build a public parking garage, and this will
increase the supply of parking enough to solve any parking issues. But what's the cost of a parking garage? In
2012 the average cost of an above -ground garage was $24,000 per stall14 — that's a cost of $33,866 per stall in
2025 dollars15. The Harbor has 675 paid spaces". Assuming a three-story parking garage with 300 stalls
(note: this would only add around 200 extra stalls as the first floor would cover existing parking) that comes
to over 10 million dollars, about a quarter of the City of Seward's budget for 2025.
Seward can't afford to build its way out of a parking problem. The most effective way to manage public
parking is by charging an appropriate price for public spaces.
Can Seward Charge for Parking on Third Avenue?
This is a point that would need to be negotiated with the state of Alaska as Third Avenue is a state road. The
City of Seward has made prior agreements with the Alaska DOT for plowing and lane marking. A similar
agreement would need to be made about paid parking, if it was found to be necessary to implement on Third
Avenue.
What About Parking Spillover?
Parking minimums were implemented to manage parking spillover, so this is a concern, but there is a better
solution than parking minimums to curb this issue.
Donald Shoup, the pioneer of parking research, writes "Instead of requiring off-street parking, cities can
better manage on -street parking. One simple strategy is to allow the residents of any block to adopt an
Overnight Parking Permit District. These districts prohibit overnight parking on the street except by
residents.
Los Angeles, for example, charges residents $15 per year (less than half a cent per day) for an overnight
permit. Residents can also buy guest permits for $1 per night. Enforcement is easy because officers need to
make only one visit during a night to cite all cars parked without permits"'
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What About Congestion?
The system of parking minimums and free parking as it stands now does nothing to alleviate congestion
except through an attempt to oversupply parking. However, even attempts at oversupply can get overwhelmed
at the block level during peak congestion times. In contrast, charging for parking in the most heavily parked
areas that regularly reach 100% utilization is an actual tool to combat congestion.
Charging for parking increases turnover of parking spaces, freeing up the spot for the next vehicle. It
directly reduces congestion because it changes behavior. Charging the right price for parking will ensure
that there are one or two spaces available per block where drivers can immediately park instead of waiting for
a free space to appear and circling repeatedly around the block.'
What about Overnight Parking in Some Areas?
Overnight street parking could be allowed in areas with bars, hotels, and similar uses. As driving under
the influence should be discouraged, parking should align with this value and give people the option to find
another way home and pick their car up without worrying about it getting ticketed or towed. Many parking
meters turn off at around 10pm and don't resume until the late morning, plenty of time to recover and pick up
a car left behind at a bar.
What about Loading Zones?
Loading zones can be accounted for as part of any implementation of paid street parking. Loading zones in
the public right of way could be designated with fixed time limits to ensure adequate turnover.
What about American Disabilities Act (ADA) Parking?
ADA parking can be provided in the public right of way with the right signage. Specific ADA parking spaces
could be made at the start and end of each block as they are the easiest to pull into and out of. Parking
revenue could be invested back into the neighborhood to pay for adequate curb cuts for ADA parking areas
and maintenance of sidewalks to maintain or improve ADA accessibility. In short, paid parking is good for
ADA accessibility if properly implemented with a parking improvement district.
Has This Worked Anywhere Else?
Many cities nationwide have removed their parking minimum requirements. The cities include Anchorage,
Austin, San Jose, and Gainesville, Florida, among dozens of others large cities." In fact, nationwide, at
least 2,327 cities and towns have implemented parking reforms to remove parking minimums at some
level and many of those removed all parking minimums citywide.18
And it's not just big cities. Smaller cities are twice as likely to implement parking reforms.19 But tellingly, of
the 2,327 cities that have reformed parking, only 4 have backtracked on parking minimums and decided to re -
implement them later18 - that is less than one quarter of a percent. Parking reforms work and will work in
Seward.
Can this really work in Seward?
Seward already has two districts (or zones) without parking minimums. The Central Business (CB), and
Harbor Commercial (HC) districts do not require parking minimums for development - except when required
by a Conditional Use Permit (CUP).
The CB and HC districts are some of the developed and productive places in Seward and are the most
walkable. The CB district in particular has a mix of dwellings and commercial uses in an accessible setting
for people walking.
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Seward needs to spread this success to the rest of the city and remove parking mandates citywide.
I Like Parking Minimums Because They Hold Back "Insert
Undesirable Development Here"
One of the things about code is that it is complicated and getting desired results often requires making
changes to several areas/layers of code. Parking minimums are indeed holding back all of kinds of
development. Some of this development may be less desirable than others, with opinions varying wildly on
what is desirable or not.
What eliminating parking minimums does is give everyone a fair starting point. If from there, it is the market
forces are not inline with the wishes of Seward's citizens, then we can regulate a certain types of
development. But such a conversation will be honest in the fact that it won't be hiding restrictions on
development behind arbitrary rules.
What Could Paid Public Parking Look Like?
First, the Harbor Commercial area could be better priced to ensure adequate parking utilization and turnover.
If the Harbor Commercial district is running out of parking, then the price needs to be set to a more
appropriate value to match the demand.
For areas other than the harbor, a similar program for street parking could be instituted. Paid parking could be
instituted in only the most parking -congested areas, finding the right price, so 85% parking utilization is
reached per block. Overall for the paid areas, this would most likely only be a seasonal charge, the rest of the
year Seward's population is small enough and demand is low enough that parking would most likely be free
most months out of the year.
What Can Parking Benefit Districts Do?
Parking Benefit Districts (PBDs) are the final leg of a three-legged stool when implementing parking reform.
The first two legs are eliminating parking minimums and charging for street parking where it's needed. So the
question someone might be wondering is "What happens to the money from the paid parking?"
Instead of just putting all that money into the city's general fund, a better idea is to create a PBD and split the
money between the city and the PBD. Each PDB holds a separate fund to be used at the neighborhood
level to pay for improvements to the streets and sidewalks where the paid parking is being collected.
This money can be used for things like building new sidewalks, paying for public transit, improving
landscaping, paying for parking enforcement, building bicycle lanes, paying for street sweeping, improving
signage, etc. If set up correctly, the neighborhood has control of the funds of the PBD and can decide on the
best use of the money for local improvements, but some revenue is still shared with the city that can be used
for more broad improvements.
C onclusion
Parking minimums, since their implementation, have caused decades of harm across many cities in America
and Seward is no exception Parking minimums, through their one goal of creating enough parking spaces for
private vehicles, have failed to account for anything else.
Parking minimums conceal the true cost of parking, cause too much parking to be built, cause higher
development costs including housing, cause land use distortion, prevent classic housing and development,
discourage walkability and encourage sprawl, contribute to pollution, cause equity issues, are overkill for
Page 23
seasonal towns, favor specific types of development over others, cause the creation of permanently unused
lots, and finally undermining missing middle housing.
When "fixing the parking problem" it's tempting to want to just tweak numbers for parking minimums for
each use, but doing so is not precise enough to capture the nuance of parking requirements and often leads to
parking -based favoritism without doing much to fix the problem at all. Instead the best thing to do is to just
remove parking minimums completely from Seward's code and let developers and owners determine how
many parking spaces they want to own. However, this change should not just be done alone.
In addition, after parking minimums are reformed, parking studies should be performed to identify congested
areas and find places where public parking is regularly overrun. Once identified those areas should find the
right price to charge for parking such that the parking utilization remains around 85%. As Seward is such a
small and seasonal town, this will not be much of the town, and only during the busy summer season.
Finally, much of the money collected from the paid parking areas should go back to the neighborhoods they
were collected in through Parking Benefit Districts. Letting the neighborhood members choose how to best
improve the character of their neighborhood.
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