Council hears proposal to codify off-street parking manual, allow tandem parking to comply with new state laws

Planning staff presented a zoning text amendment on Nov. 18 to update the off-street parking standards manual and align local code with recent state legislation (SB 181 and HB 368). The amendment would codify the parking manual and make several operational changes: permitting tandem parking configurations to count toward minimum parking requirements across land uses (with residential tandem spaces required to be assigned to a specific unit), allowing certain driveway spaces to count toward minimums for single-family, two-family, rowhouse and townhome uses provided at least one space is behind the front line of the building, and making stylistic updates to definitions to conform with state law.

Why it matters: staff said the changes are intended to remove barriers to housing and to comply with state-mandated changes to local parking regulation; the stated compliance deadline is Dec. 31, 2025. Council members asked technical questions about whether tandem stalls could be unlimited, whether hydraulic (stacked) systems or commercial uses would be treated differently, and how enforcement of vehicle storage vs. minimum parking would be handled. Staff said tandem layouts will be limited to two-in-row, may be assigned for residential units, and that enforcement of vehicle storage remains unchanged.

Next steps: staff recommended adoption of the zoning amendments and codification of the off-street parking manual and said they would follow up on technical enforcement and hydraulic parking questions raised by council members.