PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Michael Sutherland, Policy Analyst at Open Plans
4:15:01
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114 sec
Michael Sutherland, a policy analyst at Open Plans, testifies in support of lifting parking mandates as part of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal. He presents evidence from other cities, particularly Buffalo, that have successfully implemented similar reforms.
- Buffalo's experience shows that lifting parking mandates allows for more flexible development without eliminating parking where it's needed.
- Lifting mandates would not ban parking or require less parking, but would allow for more housing in dense areas where parking is unnecessary.
- Keeping parking mandates could limit the proposal's potential to create affordable housing and make certain developments more difficult or expensive.
Michael Sutherland
4:15:01
Good afternoon.
4:15:02
My name is Michael Sutherland, and I'm the policy analyst at OpenPlans, an organization that fights for a more livable city.
4:15:07
I'm also a born and raised Brooklynite from deep southern Brooklyn in District 46.
4:15:11
While there are many parts of this plan that OpenPlans supports, I'm here to focus specifically on parking mandates and there's a lot that's been said already about parking.
4:15:18
And with my testimony, you like to present in good faith some of the evidence that's come out of cities that have done this already like House Humberosi mentioned, it's important to hear about what other cities have done in the results of that.
4:15:28
So are close to 100 cities across the country ranging from San Francisco to Birmingham that have lifted mandates before New York City has.
4:15:34
So I'll talk to someone I'll talk about one a little closer to home, Buffalo.
4:15:38
Buffalo lifted mandates in 2017.
4:15:40
So the impact of this reform spent decades, but early findings indicate that lifting mandate citywide works.
4:15:47
A SUNY Buffalo study found that many new major developments included less parking spaces than would have been required previously.
4:15:53
Importantly, it also showed that there were many developments that built the same or more parking that would have been required.
4:15:59
Buffalo shows that parking is still built where it makes sense, but not city wide at an arbitrary rate.
4:16:04
And I think the evidence is important because it's it's important to not just blindly trust developers, but also to to to trust the data that's come out of these cities.
4:16:13
And I'd like to close with important shoots about lifting parking mandates.
4:16:16
So right now, parking is often built where it isn't needed because of mandates.
4:16:20
Lifting mandates wouldn't ban parking or acquire less parking to be built anywhere.
4:16:23
In areas where there's high car dependency, parking will still be built.
4:16:27
But in more dense areas where parking is unneeded, lifting mandates will allow more housing to be created.
4:16:31
And finally, without lifting mandates, this proposal would not live up to its fullest potential to create as much affordable housing as possible.
4:16:38
It could drive up costs and UAP developments outside of the transit zone and make SROs and need to use more difficult or impossible to build in some places.
4:16:44
So it's vital that the council lifts parking mandates in its proposal, and it would be tragic for New York City to remain behind the curve.
4:16:50
We urge the council to take the step that dozens of other cities have already taken, lift parking mandate city Thank you for your time.
