Birmingham leaders believe ‘Right-Sized Parking Initiative’ will improve Magic City, lead to more development

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – We’re on your side to break down Birmingham’s new parking reform plan. The right-sized parking initiative means new developments are no longer locked into providing a fixed number of parking spaces.

Some people in the city are concerned if this could lead to parking challenges in the Magic City.

City planners do not think this will make parking difficult. In fact, they believe this initiative will make it easier to get around Birmingham.

“Current parking standards require an overabundance of parking spaces and this has had detrimental effects on our city and its residents,” says Birmingham Mayor Randall L. Woodfin. “Birmingham is now on its way to being more walkable, cycleable and accessible. This means a better city for all of us.”

City Planner Hunter Garrison drafted the initiative and says it would no longer require massive parking lots to be built when new developments arrive and the city could stop sprawling.

He says the Right Size Parking Initiative will allow developers to create more affordable housing and attract more businesses downtown.

In his eyes, this will give developers more freedom and incentive to create developments in Birmingham.

“What it really means is that the car park is still going to be built with a lot of development – ​​it’s about sizing it right. Letting it adapt to the context and location where it is built. So instead of having to build this arbitrary or fixed amount, they can build the right amount of parking that they know is necessary for their business, versus the city saying you need to build ‘X’ number of spaces,” says Garrison.

As for parking, Garrison says the city has no shortage of parking options. He says parking lots around town are almost never filled.

Garrison says one in five people don’t have access to a reliable automobile in our community, and that the previous code prioritized automobiles over people.

“We realize that the mandates were well-intentioned, but that they came at a high cost to business. This means putting people first, not machines,” says Hunter Garrison, Senior Planner for PEP and the person who drafted the amendment.

In the city’s press release, Birmingham City officials noted that the Department of Planning, Engineering and Permitting is working closely with the Birmingham Department of Transportation to ensure that enforcement is addressed as part of this effort.

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