Redlands could require 25% fewer parking spaces for housing near rail line

Developers of housing near Redlands’ upcoming rail line might not have to build as much parking if the city approves changes proposed by staff.

The Redlands Planning Commission this week agreed 4-1 to recommend the City Council adopt the proposed changes to parking requirement rules for mixed-use developments within a half mile of a train station. Commissioner Karah Shaw dissented and Commissioner Steven Frasher was absent.

The change is only applicable to properties zoned C-3, which is commercial, and to those in the Downtown Specific Plan, Planning Manager Brian Foote told the Commission.

The largest contiguous area of C-3 zoning in the city is south and west of Redlands Boulevard, east of Center street and mostly north of Vine Street. The few other C-3 areas are smaller and already developed, he said.

The New York Street Station does not have any C-3 zoning nearby, he said, nor does the University Station area, so the parking changes would really only be applicable to the downtown area.

The proposal is to determine the number of parking spaces required to be built by the square footage of the residential unit. One parking space would be required for each unit up to 999 square feet, 1.5 spaces for every unit up to 1,499 square feet, and 2 spaces for each unit larger than that. One guest space would be required for every 4 units. Live/work units and commercial units would have different requirements.

The proposed changes also mean that within a half mile of the train station, mixed-use projects could share all the guest spaces with commercial spaces.

The city currently requires one parking space for one-bedroom units, 1.5 spaces for 2-bedroom units, and 2 spaces for units with 3 or more bedrooms.

Studies from Washington, D.C. to Pasadena found transit-oriented development reduced the need for car trips and parking by 20% to 60%, Foote told commissioners.

“Essentially a mixed-use project does not require as much parking as would be assumed under a parking rate determined by the Institute of Transportation Engineers,” upon which most city codes are typically based, Foote said at the meeting. “Generally ITE tends to overestimate the amount of parking needed for mixed-use projects in transit-oriented development, particularly around a major transit stop like a train station.”

Larger reductions came in large high density cities, but in suburban areas, the rates of reduction were closer to 20% to 30%, he said.

“It seems reasonable to think that a 20% to 30% trip reduction and parking reduction would work, should work, in a suburban area around a train station, a major transit stop, with a mixed-use development that’s designed as a transit-oriented type of development,” Foote said.

The mixed-use project proposed for the Redlands Mall site offers  20% less residential parking than existing code requires, he said, and is about 25% lower than code for commercial parking.

Considering the need for parking will likely be lower, that should be OK, he said.

Shaw said she wasn’t sure the cities mentioned in the studies compare to Redlands.

“You can jump on the train and go to work in L.A. … but when you get back here you still have to have a car to go to Target,” she said.

She said she wasn’t comfortable reducing the number of required spaces by 25% to 30%.

“Parking is already kind of a mess,” she said.

Chair Conrad Guzkowski noted even if the rule changes pass, there are checks and balances.

Projects will still have to be vetted by the city, and project investors “have a vested in interest in success, and that’s a check on this system as well,” Guzkowski.

Commissioner Matt Endsley wondered about “what the potential unforeseen impacts might be,” but called it a “bold and necessary move.”

The City Council will make the final determination on the changes at a later date.