Vancouver to axe all minimum car parking requirements this month

City of Vancouver to eliminate minimum car parking requirements everywhere in all types of buildings this month

LII LA/Shutterstock | Perkins&Will

All minimum vehicle parking requirements within new buildings could soon be eliminated across Vancouver.

And this goes for all types of uses — not just residential, but all types of land uses, such as the non-residential uses of office, hotel, retail/restaurant, services, other commercial, and industrial.

The only minimum vehicle parking requirements that will still apply entail accessible stalls and visitor stalls, such as for visitors of a residential building.

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City of Vancouver staff are making these sweeping recommendations to Vancouver City Council, as the municipal government is required by the Government of British Columbia to abolish minimum vehicle parking requirements for residential areas under provincial legislation relating to transit-oriented development and small-scale multi-unit housing within single-family neighbourhoods.

City Council is expected to approve this recommendation next week, just before the provincial government’s legislated deadline of June 30, 2024. If approved, the new regulations within Vancouver will come into effect on the same day as the deadline. These recommendations will be deliberated by City Council down to the wire on June 26 for final approval.

However, it should be strongly emphasized that this strategy of abolishing minimum vehicle parking requirements everywhere for all land uses — not just the legislated requirement for residential uses — goes far beyond the provincial government’s legislation.

City staff state they are performing a city-wide abolition to simplify the policies, as the alternative option would be to divide the existing 63 different minimum vehicle parking requirements and layering new geographic areas.

“Eliminating the need to calculate and validate whether these complex requirements are being met is expected to simplify and accelerate the development application and review process,” reads a City staff report.

“This will advance the City’s objectives towards simplifying regulations and accelerating permit approval times, as well as transportation and climate emergency goals.”

Moreover, over the years, the municipal government has already been progressively removing minimum vehicle parking requirements for select areas and uses, including the 2018 removal for most of the downtown Vancouver peninsula including the West End’s non-residential uses, the September 2023 removal for single-family residential zoning for multiplexes, and the November 2023 removal for the remainder of the West End and the Broadway Plan area.

For years, there has been a push to at least consider the removal of such requirements for the benefits of reducing construction costs to help improve housing affordability, job space supply, and project financial viability, encouraging public transit, cycling, walking, and car use, and reducing emissions from both a smaller construction scope and lower private vehicle use.

These policy changes provide developers with the immense flexibility to build for the projected demand for such vehicle parking spaces, as opposed to following strict regulations based on use and the size of the building.

But City staff warn that these forthcoming measures could increase demand for curbside on-street parking, especially if developers choose to build insufficient parking for the likely demand.

For this reason, City staff state they will use existing parking management tools to help manage demand, such as introducing time-limited or paid parking in commercial and industrial areas, introducing permit parking in residential areas, and considering changing existing residential parking-only areas to residential permit parking. Additionally, parking enforcement would increase with additional parking patrol staff and vehicles equipped with license plate recognition cameras.

It is also noted that beginning on June 1, 2025, the West End neighbourhood’s existing parking permit zone will be split into three zones to improve parking availability for residents living close to commercial streets — such as Davie, Denman, and Robson streets — and to encourage the use of alternative transportation modes.

According to City staff, there is a growing issue of some West End residents using curbside on-street parking instead of using off-street parking available within their building, as it can be cheaper to park on the street than to use in-building parking. Over the years, the City has been gradually increasing the price of the West End’s on-street parking permits.

“Developers would be strongly encouraged to supply the amount of parking their building needs, as the amount of on-street parking is finite and there is not enough space to accommodate all vehicles,” continues the City staff report.

“In addition, curb space could be converted to other uses, such as bike lanes, bus lanes or patios, which would further reduce on-street parking supply.”

Parking revenues are expected to account for $78.4 million of the City’s total 2024 operating revenues of $2.153 billion — up from $69 million in 2023.

In 2021, City Council rejected City staff’s highly controversial plan of implementing fee-based mandatory parking permits for all residential streets across Vancouver, including overnight rates for visitors of a block. The plan was to roll out the new system in 2022.

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