Transfer

If you're referring to Manhattan, parking is generally not permitted in any zoning district south of Harlem except via Special Permit. The exception is that, south of 60th St in Manhattan, a building can provide parking for 20% of its tenants as-of-right (ie, without a special permit).

No, I mean when you build a new building in all of New York City, You are Required to provide 40% or more of the dwelling units with a parking space as a general rule.

Chicago has a similar zoning requirement/problem. It depends on the location's zoning designation, but typically a minimum of 0.55 spaces/unit is required with a maximum of 1.1 spaces/unit. Given that the spaces are cheap to build, are sold to condo buyers and that a lot of the buyers are moving back into the city from the 'burbs and therefore won't give up their cars the built garages tend towards the maximum.

This current ordinance was part of a recent overhaul, the first in something like 50 years. I think they need to rewrite the overhaul, bringing that number down. Waaaay down.

I'm anticipating that in 10-20 years when gas is so damn expensive that people stop driving (among other consequences of our fossil fuel ways) and there's no longer a need for all these nine-story parking garage podiums, the spaces will lovely residential renovations, since people are gonna need to live closer to where they work anyways. Two spaces for a studio, four for a one bedroom, etc. Maybe some architect will design a plug-in module that just fills in those parking spaces with carpeted/hardwood rooms. Some people will even be lucky enough to live on a 6% slope!

We need a major overhaul here. Our building codes haven't been updated since the 1960's. Our planning commission is beholden to the whims of developer schemed follies, with perhaps the only good thing to come out of that dept in 5 years is the highline project, and that took tremendous outside pressure anyways. They stood hook line and sinker for a West Side stadium. You'd think New York planning would be ahead of the curve, and frankly, they're way behind it.

Love the Plug in Mobile idea!!

Dave - for Manhattan south of 60th, it's not true that parking must be provided for 40% of residents. Parking is never required and, except by special permit, can not be provided for more than 20% of the units.

Jackson - Then we are reading seperate zoning codes. There are plenty of zoning districts south of Harlem that have parking requirements. Everything from R1-1 thru R10A has minimum parking requirements - yes R8(A&X) thru R10 have this waived for Manhattan Core (excluding the Special Hudson Yards District) OR if 5 or fewer spaces are required (15 or fewer for R8B). There are thousands of lots in Manhattan that have parking requirements, I think you are applying the waivers that reference the Manhattan core, not the rest of Manhattan.