St. Cloud to Hold Public Hearing on Revising Parking Requirements for Future Residential Neighborhoods

(KNSI) – St. Cloud will hold a public hearing on changing the parking requirements for future residential neighborhoods.

Officials say cities across the country are looking at reducing the number of off-street parking spaces in order to help developers lower the cost of construction for new housing. St. Cloud’s current standard is two off-street parking spaces for every housing unit, whether it’s a home, a townhome or an apartment. On Tuesday, St. Cloud Community Development Director Matt Glaesman told the commission there are a number of ways they could go with an ordinance. “One way might be that we just say we’re going to reduce the standard. Two isn’t the appropriate standard anymore. Let’s drop to one or 1.5 or 1.75 and let the market dictate.”

The city could also choose to reduce parking only in dense urban areas, in places with easy access to mass transit, allow driveways where people can park in tandem to count as two spaces (right now, it counts as one) or eliminate the standard altogether.

Commissioner Sheila DeVine made the motion to hold a public hearing. “I do think it’s important right now for us to take a look at it. This is more like minimum. Not that you can’t do more, but this is [the] minimum. I think things like the tandem [parking], people do that anyway. [If] you’ve got a long enough driveway you’re going to park in tandem. It can count [as two spaces]. I think there’s a few things like that that we can take.”

Census data shows that two-thirds of St. Cloud homes have two or more vehicles, and 10% have no car. Any changes would apply to new construction. The public hearing hasn’t been set yet, but it’s expected to be in October or November.

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