Removal of

Parking Minimums

In Langley City

What are Parking Minimums?

Restaurant Space

372 m²

≈ 4000 ft²

(77 ft x 52 ft)

City of Langley�Zoning Bylaw 2100:

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Eating Establishment requires 3.0 off-street parking spaces per 93m²

(93m² ≈ 1000ft²)

• Local laws that require developers / property owners to provide a minimum number of off-street parking spaces when building or changing a property's use.�
• The number of required spaces is determined by formulas - for example, requiring 4 parking spots per 1,000 square feet of restaurant space or 2 spots per apartment unit.�
• These requirements apply regardless of actual need, market demand, available street parking and transportation options.

Example: The Restaurant�Commercial Use -Eating Establishment

This to-scale diagram with an access road ≈ 4000 ft² (119 ft x 34 ft)

Why are we here

today?

1. We believe parking minimums are bad for cities.�
2. We believe Langley City is in the perfect position to eliminate parking minimums.�
3. We want to open a dialogue with Langley City on this and other topics.�
4. We want encourage and support Langley City in eliminating parking minimums.

Why are they bad?

They push cities apart.

They shape our cities around cars by forcing buildings to be spread far apart with large parking lots in between, creating unwalkable spaces that feel empty and uninviting.

Image Credit: RoadGuyRob

They waste land.

They waste valuable urban land with empty parking lots and garages, reducing space for homes, businesses, parks, and other uses that create vibrant neighbourhoods and pay higher rates of property taxes.

Parking Minimums make it harder for smaller business owners to open up locations for their business, and small developers to build cost effective housing.

They make business and housing cost more.

This building:

• In New York City
• 17 units and 6 storeys
• Each unit 650ft²
• Completed February 2024.
• Total costs ≈ C$465,000 per unit (US$322,000)�(Consider NYC has higher land and labour costs)

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No parking was constructed:

• Excavating for parking would have dramatically increased the cost of the homes.
• No parking makes lots of small scale housing projects like this possible.
• Densely populated, walkable area with transit, no parking needed.

Source:�https://x.com/aussieflya/status/1825244230857740753�https://x.com/aussieflya/status/1825254027380371889

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Image Credit: Parking Reform Network

Cities in Canada & the US are eliminating parking minimums.

Parking Minimums in Metro Vancouver

Metro Vancouver’s

Parking Report

Metro Vancouver released a draft report at the Regional Planning Committee Meeting this month that outlined the following:

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• Parking is oversupplied by 47 percent in strata buildings and by 35 percent in market rental

buildings, on average.

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• Parking utilization decreases near frequent or rapid transit, particularly for rental housing.

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• Parking costs are significant and can exceed $200,000 per stall when geotechnical

challenges, such as poor soil conditions or high water tables, are present.

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Vancouver has eliminated them.

On June 26th 2024 the City of Vancouver voted to eliminate parking minimums city-wide.

Fort Langley Cash-in-Lieu Scheme

Since 1995 Fort Langley has had a bylaw that allows property owners in the commercial area of Fort Langley to pay cash instead of building parking lots on their property to meet parking minimum requirements. This money goes to pay for a public parking lot.

Aldergrove Cash-in-Lieu Scheme

In the May 2024 council meeting, the Township of Langley council voted to develop a Cash-in-Lieu parking scheme for downtown Aldergrove to fund a new parkade facility.

Fort Langley and Aldergrove Built Form

Fort Langley and Aldergrove have Traditional Development Patterns in their core, making meeting parking requirements impractical and harmful.

For Comparison:

Langley City Built Form

Langley City also has large areas preserved in the Traditional Development Pattern such as the Fraser Highway One-Way.

Transit Oriented Areas

Approximately a quarter of Langley City is within a Transit Oriented Area (TOA) zone (≈ 2.4km² of 10.18km²).

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Parking Minimums are not permitted inside TOA zones as per Langley City’s updated bylaws and provincial legislation.

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We could expand this policy citywide.

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Next Steps

Dialogue

We want to start the conversation about this topic.

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Strong Towns Langley is a bottom-up community group that works with ordinary people, municipal staff and elected officials.

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We are always happy to donate our time and energy to develop and refine ideas or get feedback.

Ideal Outcome?

Refer to staff to develop a report to study removing parking minimums city-wide.

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Eliminate parking minimums instead of a cash-in-lieu scheme.

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Establish agreements for public use of existing private parking lots.

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Make Langley City a leader and first municipality in the Fraser Valley to eliminate parking minimums altogether.

Thank you.

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Strong Towns Langley

strongtownslangley.org

contact@strongtownslangley.org