City seeks public input on new Parking Strategy by Dec. 2

The City of Sacramento is inviting residents to weigh in on a proposed Parking Strategy, aimed at advancing housing and climate goals by updating parking requirements and optimizing parking management.

The strategy makes recommendations to:

1. Improve public parking management
2. Expand parking maximums
3. Increase bicycle parking to support active transportation

The City currently has regulations in place that cap the allowed parking for most new developments in the Central City, and for offices, warehousing, and manufacturing throughout the balance of the city.

"The strategy recommends expanding parking maximums to the full Central City, and to all developments with ½ mile walking distance of existing high-frequency transit stops," said Senior Planner, Vic Randall. "This sets a cap on new parking spaces for developments in these areas, rather than reducing existing parking." High-frequency transit stops include SacRT's light rail stations and bus routes 1 (Greenback) and 51 (Stockton Blvd./Broadway).

The strategy also creates a Parking Management Toolkit that offers the City's Parking Services Division strategies to manage parking effectively and efficiently in Sacramento. The recommendations in the toolkit include updating the residential parking permit program, expanding permit offerings and programs, expanding on-street carshare parking, and more.

Additionally, the strategy recommends updating design guidelines to accommodate larger or newer styles of bikes including e-bikes, cargo bicycles or accessible bicycles to provide adequate, secure and weatherproof parking.

Efforts to update and reconfigure mandates have been underway since 2013. The recently adopted 2040 Sacramento General Plan eliminated the minimum vehicle parking requirements. This is intended to prevent oversupply of parking and incentivizes more space for housing to reach housing goals.

Visit the Parking Strategy web page for more information.

The draft strategy is available for public comment until Monday, Dec. 2.