A proposed amendment to the City of Omaha’s zoning code would end parking requirements for residential developments. Advocates told City Council members Tuesday that the change would help make housing more affordable.
Zeke Rouse, a policy analyst with the organization Spark, cited a study that found a single parking requirement can add anywhere between $5,000 and $50,000 per space to the cost of a residential housing project. He said that cost is often passed on to renters and homeowners.
Under the proposed change, Omaha would do away with the current requirement of one parking unit per residential unit across the city.
“Developers can still build all the parking that they think their tenants and buyers want,” Rouse said. “This just puts that decision back with the people who know their neighborhoods best.”
The one-to-one parking ratio has been used for more than a decade, said Eric Englund with the Omaha planning department. Changing that requirement was one of many suggestions made in the city’s Housing Affordability Action Plan.
Kene Okigbo, executive director of Omaha by Design, spoke more on that plan.
“One of the items that rose to the top of the constraints list, making projects infeasible, was how they are able to fit on these constrained sites,” Okigbo said. “Parking being one of those levers, where if alleviated, could allow for more affordable housing throughout the community.”
The change would also allow builders to count a driveway space as a parking stall. Houses with a one-car garage currently count as having one parking stall.
Council members are scheduled to vote on the zoning change Oct. 6.