Downtown SLC Parking Study

Problem

Donald Shoup’s book, “The High Cost of Free Parking,” highlights that every parking spot comes at a cost, paid for by everyone in some form or another. Historically, US cities have relied on national standards for parking supply, regardless of the unique context of each city, resulting in a large chunk of land dedicated to parking even at the core of cities. Salt Lake City is no exception. The study area of the UTA Free Fare Zone in downtown Salt Lake City has 169 parking facilities, covering 135 acres of land, and 27,670 parking stalls, occupying 24.1% of the zone. Surface parking alone covers 76.6 acres, a significant amount of prime real estate in the center of Utah. Therefore, there is a need to optimize the parking supply in the downtown area to maximize land use potential without sacrificing the ability to meet parking demands. As such, this project aims to analyze the parking supply and demand within this study area and recommend strategies to optimize and manage parking supply.

Analysis & Findings

The parking count was carried out within the boundaries of the Free Fare Zone during the week of October 17th – 21st, 2022, conducted four times a day (morning, noon, afternoon, and evening) for each parking facility. The occupancy data shows that a majority of parking facilities are underutilized, with a peak occupancy of 48.7% across the study area. Analyzing the parking occupancy by land use, we can see that parking facilities on commercial land parcels had the lowest occupancy of 46% at the peak demand during the day. On the other hand, parking facilities on multi-family housing parcels have the highest utilization, with 67% during the peak demand. This indicates that Downtown is currently overparked and opens up the potential for land utilization for other purposes that contribute to the economy. A comparison of the supply and demand of parking facilities to the Salt Lake City Off-street Parking Ordinance as well as to the ITE Parking Generation Manual shows that the current supply of parking in all land uses is well below the standards required by these regulations. This also indicates that the city’s parking requirements can be made more flexible to encourage more land utilization. On the revenue side, analyzing the Land Information Records from Salt Lake County Land Assessor data shows that the per acre valuation of parcels with surface parking is significantly lower than the parcels around them used for other land uses. The property tax revenue collected as a percentage of this value further indicates that the city is losing a lot of tax revenue due to the underutilization of these surface land parcels.

Recommended Strategies

Finally, this study explores various parking management strategies that can help reduce parking demand, improve transportation options, and promote sustainable transportation in downtown Salt Lake City. Strategies such as flexible parking requirements, parking maximums, and shared parking have been found to reduce parking requirements and utilize valuable land in dense, mixed-use developments. Other strategies like unbundling parking, dynamic parking pricing, mobility management, and walking and biking improvements can help change travel behavior and promote alternative modes of transportation. In addition, effective parking regulations are extremely important to prioritize different parking users and uses, along with designing regulations that favor high-priority parking uses and determining how they will be enforced. Contingency-based overflow parking plans can help address parking issues during special events or peak shopping periods. Finally, Parking Management Associations can help coordinate parking policies and programs and provide a unified voice for parking issues.

Way Forward

Moving forward, it is important to recognize that the recommended parking strategies do not operate in a vacuum, and their effectiveness is contingent on their integration with other strategies. Thus, the way forward requires a holistic and collaborative approach to parking management that considers the complex interplay of transportation, land use, and economic factors. Streamlining parking management, facilitating shared parking, and implementing unified wayfinding and branding can help create a cohesive parking management system that is easy to use and navigate. Additionally, transparency and coalition building can foster trust and collaboration among stakeholders, which is essential for the success of any parking management program. By adopting a comprehensive and collaborative approach that combines multiple strategies, downtown Salt Lake City can effectively manage parking demand and supply, promote sustainable transportation, and support the growth and vitality of the city’s economy and community.