Our projects
Parking reform
The top reasons why we are advocating to eliminate parking requirements in our municipalities.
Our region is increasing in population and will need to densify for this reason and because of rising sea levels in the future will lower the amount of land available.
They prevent property owners from using their own property as they see fit.
They are based on junk science. Can anyone tell me that there is an actual link between the number of liters of water in a swimming pool and parking demand or number of casket viewing rooms in a funeral home and parking demand?
They lower the price of driving which causes more people to drive which makes our places more dangerous. Insurance companies estimate ~107,500 Canadians were injured and killed in 2018. Cars are the greatest killer of people under 40 in Canada. Can anyone tell me why we say “Don’t drink and drive!” but then the municipalities REQUIRE pubs and bars to provide parking?
They spread out all developments which makes walking, cycling more difficult and dangerous.
Makes public transit less sustainable.
Causes our property taxes to be higher than normal because auto infrastructure is so expensive and has to be so widespread.
It raises the price of all retail (including housing/ commercial costs) goods because the cost of the parking must be bundled into the cost of all items AND lowers wages for employees in order to pay for the parking.
They make our society less equitable. The construction/ maintenance costs get bundled into the cost of housing which hurts poor families and women more. Why women? Women generally earn less income than men, so are more affected by higher costs of retail products and rents.
They cause heat islands
They destroy urban form ( they are ugly)Tall boxy buildings surrounded by parking lots- because surface parking is the cheapest way to provide parking.
Because the average car spends 94% of its time parked, it is the least efficient transportation mode known to mankind.
Cars cause air pollution which is a leads to respiratory problems and causes pre-term births to occur.
Below is is a map of an area of Victoria called Burnside. It has an area of 2,383,860 sqm. Onstreet parking has 66,618 sqm based on the onstreet parking bylaw width of 2.6 meters. Municipal surface off street parking occupies18,499 square meters. Municipal off street structured parking has 5,720 square meters.Private off street parking is 453,261square meters. Private streets have parking on street area of 2,544sqm. Private structured parking is estimated to be 32,294 sqm. Residential driveways occupy 37,706 sqm meaning that 25.86% of the land area in this region is dedicated to storage of private metal boxes on wheels.
We want to create more of these maps for areas of the CRD. If you are interested in helping us out, Let us know, see the contact us area on our home page.
More to come. stay tuned....