Recently there has been controversy from several neighborhoods about changes in the city code that allow new multifamily developers along designated "Transit Streets" to build units without any on-site parking. At the present no such units have been proposed for Sullivan's Gulch but given that they have appeared in many other neighborhoods and that they offer some lower rents, it is certainly possible they may be proposed for the Gulch.
As a result of the concern from several neighborhood associations and the advocacy group The Citywide Land Use Group expressed, the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has been working on a study of new apartment buildings with no off-street parking in preparation for a November 13th community forum. The results of the study have just been published here and you may find them interesting. The website includes the report, maps and a background memo.
The Public Forum on New Apartments and Parking will be held on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. downtown at 1900 SW 4th Avenue, Room 2500A.
The advocacy group, The Citywide Land Use Group is currently circulating an online survey to gauge peoples' interest and concerns about the issue of zero parking developments. You can take the survey here. They've also produced an interesting FAQ about zero parking developments as well, here.
Here are the areas around Sullivan's Gulch Neighborhood where installing parking is allowed but not required by zoning code from this map. Red is Commercial zone; Yellow is Single Family Residential and Blue is Multifamily.
Below are selected excerpts from the November 2012 report: PARKING IMPACTS FOR NEW TOD [Transit Oriented Development] ALONG PORTLAND INNER CORRIDORS — PARKING STUDY, by David Evans and Associates, Portland for the City of Portland. (Editor's Note: I have included information one example zero-parking apartment located in Irvington since it is situated in an area not unlike the area of Sullivan's Gulch west of 21st.)
HOW MUCH PARKING DO TENANTS NEED?
In general, the survey results do not suggest a relationship between on-site parking and vehicle ownership. Survey responses indicate that residents at both types of buildings (those with on-site parking and those without on-site parking) have similar trends in motorized vehicle ownership. The range of vehicles per unit determined in the statistical analysis varies from a low of 0.2 vehicles to a high of 2.0 vehicles per unit as shown in Table 2.
IRVINGTON GARDEN APARTMENTS
The Irvington Garden Apartments building is located in the Irvington neighborhood in northeast Portland, several blocks north of Broadway. This Project Location is the most utilized of the eight locations in regard to parking. Broadway is a commercial street in the study area that is home to several businesses, with limited off-street parking and time-restricted on-street parking. Off of Broadway, the local streets serve mainly the residential neighborhood, though there is spillover from patrons of the Broadway area. Figure 5 shows a graphical representation of the observed on-street parking utilization during the peak observation period, and a chart of the variation in on-street parking use throughout the observed weekday and weekend day.
WEEKDAY DATA
The weekday data for this Project Location indicates that on-street parking supply is adequate if the utilization for the two-block walkable area is averaged, but it is insufficient on many of the blocks emanating from Broadway. All of the data collection time periods observed an average utilization below the 85 percent effective capacity—utilization ranged from 61 to 66 percent. The majority of the blocks that reached capacity had less than eight available spaces to begin with, and several had only three. As a resident of Irvington Garden Apartments, one rarely, if ever, must circle the block to find a parking space within a one-block walking distance of the apartments, even if the streets directly bordering it are at capacity. It becomes much more difficult if you want to park nearer to Broadway.
During the week, most of the blocks surveyed had very little turnover, especially north of Hancock Street, where there are no time restrictions. Most of the observed parking spaces had only one or two vehicles parked in a spot over the course of the day. Because of the presence of time restrictions along Broadway and the adjacent side streets, turnover was more frequent in those areas. However, some vehicles were observed to be parked in the same spot for the entirety of the data collection period (at least 12 hours). What this tells us is that between Broadway and Hancock Street, residents and/or employees are competing for the same parking.
WEEKEND DATA
The weekend day is worse for parking than the weekday, with average utilization still below the effective 85 percent capacity threshold, but ranging from 67 to 72 percent. Weekend utilization peaked during the 6:30 p.m. collection period, which was also the overall peak utilization period at the Irvington Garden Apartments Project Location. Similar to the weekday, many block faces reached capacity (and the 85 percent effective capacity).
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