Do parking requirements hinder local businesses, and should they be thrown out?

The City Council’s Zoning and Planning Committee members, joined by Peter Doeringer representing the Planning and Development Board, considered those and other questions as the Planning Department presented its case for ditching commercial parking mandates in the city’s business districts.

Zachery LeMel, long-range planner for the Planning Department, told the committee the idea has been kicked around for years and was brought up again over the summer, in discussions about ways to attract new businesses and support the businesses already in Newton.

Newton is mostly built out. There isn’t much land in Newton that isn’t built on or protected, so most businesses coming to the city to operate in brick-and-mortar locations—especially small businesses and new startups—have to set up in existing developed space.

“Land within the city and within the region is limited, and if we can decouple parking from the businesses, or the spaces themselves, we can provide more space for businesses,” LeMel said. “We can provide more open space, more housing, things like that.”

“Parking requirements, time and time again, from a zoning perspective, come up as a barrier,” LeMel said. “A barrier for existing businesses that are succeeding and looking to expand, or for new businesses to find a new space within an existing building.”

Parking has been an issue of tension in Newton, as the makeup of Newton’s business community has changed and more focus has been put on walkability and access to public transportation.

But requiring parking spaces comes with its own set of hurdles, LeMel said, especially for new businesses trying to fit into both existing space and an existing zoning code.

“We know that when there’s a change of use or when a business closes and a new one wants to open, a lot of times the use is deemed, from a zoning perspective, maybe more intensive, and that triggers a special permit process,” he explained.

The Planning Department is proposing the city lift the parking requirements from the village centers, because the village centers mostly align with the city’s Business-1 and Business-2 zoning districts as well as many points of public transit access.

In parts of the village centers where parking requirements have been lifted under the Village Center Overlay District rules, he said, property owners are adding more outdoor space for restaurants, public plazas and more.

“If we can align the proposal with the village centers, the impact where people can take advantage of this new zooming is concentrated. There are only a couple hundred parcels within these Business-1 and Business-2 zones, a good portion of them are already in the village center zoning, so they already have this ability to move through and not require parking.”

The parking exemption would be for commercial use only.

There would only be about 100 parcels in the business zone parking exemption that weren’t already exempt under the VCOD.

Map of Newton’s Business-1 and Business-2 zoning districts. City of Newton Planning Department

In addition to a parking exemption, the Planning Department suggests simplifying the zoning code to give the same parking requirements to a wide variety of businesses and base it on square footage rather than business type.

Ward 5 At-Large Councilor Vicki Danberg, who requested the discussion, said she is “all in” with the idea and wants the parking requirement removed, not just reduced.

“There aren’t enough spaces, first of all, to go around,” Danberg said. She noted that if every business existing in the city had to meet current parking requirements, many would close and many others would stop growing.

“When the business becomes successful, a restaurant for example, if we’re going to tell them that because they have more employees or require more seating, we’re going to send them to special permit, it’s just time and money,” Danberg said. “Everybody loses on this. There’s no reason why we should be doing this to businesses.”

Ward 6 At-Large Councilor Rena Getz cautioned against a blanket approach across 13 villages when it comes to parking.

“I sort of feel as if not all villages are created equal,” Getz said. “In, specifically, our commercial blocks here in Waban, we have quite a bit of parking available, but it’s very different for West Newton, in terms of the ability to publicly park if you are going to any of the businesses.”

Getz pointed to Hilliards Chocolates, which is about to open in West Newton  and acquired land from the city for parking in order to do so.

She also suggested having businesses doing new construction pay into a parking fund, which would be used to build parking garages near the village centers.

The issue of parking requirements will eventually head to a public hearting, after the Planning Department has time to review questions and suggestions from committee members.