Parking

What kind of parking should developers provide in Lake Oswego?  Should there be any modifications for less parking for more density?  It doesn't make sense.  Unless we give in and resign ourselves to being another clone of all the nice, quaint towns that have been gobbled up by the density crowd with their big-ass blocks of apartments, we need to change the codes.

We do have a few protections now, but conflicting codes that permit lowering the parking requirement need to be eliminated.  Perhaps one can make the argument that current codes that modify parking requirements are illegal because they no longer conform to the updated Comprehensive Plan?  

Existing codes and statistics: (not a complete list!) 

The main goal of the 2014 Lake Oswego Comprehensive Plan for a Town Center is to:

• “Provide a full range of economic development opportunities that enhance prosperity and livability.”

Goal F. Livability (from the Transportation System Plan) states:

• F3 “Minimize the impacts of traffic generated through new commercial development on adjoining neighborhoods.”
• F7“ Commercial and industrial parking should not intrude into adjacent residential neighborhoods.” Goal G. Sustainability
• G-5. “Ensure that an adequate supply of parking is provided to support economic activity while balancing the need to drive, take transit, and bike and walk to and within employment centers, town centers and neighborhood villages.” 

From the Updated Comprehensive Plan:

• Development shall "provide adequate parking"

From a parking study done in 2010 for LORA by Rick Williams Consulting:

• Parking demand is about 1.88 stalls per 1,000 square feet 
• Lots of available stalls, but most parking is private/accessory (need “shared uses”)
• Need to get downtown employees off-street and Park & Riders out of downtown 
• Majority (80+ percent) of off-street supply (availability) in private control 

The majority of the study builds data to recommend a distinctly urban solution drawn from the Portland Plan - to limit parking; get employees to use transit and not park in downtown at all; share parking with owners of private lots (though I don't know what the city's part of the shared arrangement would be - tax dollars to assist more developers?); to limit surface parking lots and perhaps ban them outright; and more.  

The big push is to build a parking garage with Urban Renewal funds (public debt) for the benefit of downtown land owners and developers who should take care of parking themselves for the privilege of building here.  Build enough on-site spaces or contribute to a public garage with the same number of spaces.

From the 2010 U.S. Census, American Community Survey:

Number of vehicles per household in Lake Oswego:  1.7

(Note:  if the Wizer development, as designed, were required to provide the amount of parking needed for the typical Lake Oswego household, they would have to build 439 spaces.)

From the 2012 U.S. Census, American Community Survey:

How people get to work:

80.6% go by automobile

71.2% drive alone

  9.4% carpool

  6.4% work at home

  6.2% take public transit

  3.5% walk

  2.3% bicycle

  0.9% taxicab! motorcycle, or other means