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Survey Results: Zoning should incentivize shared parking and bike parking for new businesses

10/30/2009 | 

FixItPhilly Survey

In October 2009, FixItPhilly posted a survey and asked for input on how the ZCC should handle the important issue of parking. Eighty percent of those surveyed about parking in new commercial construction want new zoning to provide incentives for shared parking arrangements and 68.5 percent want more bicycle parking. Requirements for new garages to be built underground or wrapped with other uses ranked as the third best solution and requirements for new parking lots to be hidden behind the building or landscaped ranked fourth.

  1. Provide incentives for new businesses and institutions to share parking: 80%
  2. Require businesses to provide bicycle parking: 68.5%
  3. Require new garages to be below ground or built with stores and other uses at the street level: 65.7%
  4. Require new parking lots to be hidden behind the building or landscaped to make them less visible: 62.8%

Other suggestions noted by respondents include the following comments:

Limit curb cuts to commercial parking.

Parking in Center City is a key economic development problem – it is too expensive to park to shop and got to restaurants. We go to malls when we would rather go downtown. Street level parking lots are ugly and unsafe for pedestrians and should be eliminated. They should be underground or above street level with shops in front.

If you improve public transportation and limit available parking, you will reduce the perceived need of having your car parked in the city. The bones are here – don’t screw up the city streetscape by allowing for more parking or garages on the street – require below grade parking.

Bike lanes add to traffic. Where are cabs supposed to pull over? How are you supposed to get around a garbage truck? If someone is trying to park, everyone is stopped in their tracks.

Parking is too cheap. Improve the transit system.

See all survey results at the links below.

Zoning Watch 2009 Archives

ZCC

ZBA

General Zoning

Zoning Maps