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Attachment: Why Reducing Parking Requirements Near Transit Is a Key Lever San Leandro's draft Multi-Family Development Standards plan seeks to make it more feasible to build housing in San Leandro, and the 2035 Climate Action Plan seeks to significantly reduce vehicle miles traveled. But while city staff and scientific research are unanimous in finding that off-street parking requirements obstruct both affordable housing and greener lifestyles, the draft standards make only minor changes to these requirements, and preserve the least necessary requirements - those for developments a quarter mile from major transit stops. Right now, it is difficult to live without a car in San Leandro, and this is the direct result of a built environment that privileges car use. The only way to change our system to promote transit-oriented development is by allowing housing near transit to come with less parking. We ask that the city amend the draft standards to reduce off-street parking in multifamily-zoned areas very close to public transit as follows: Zones DA, SA, and RM (all multifamily zones subject to standards) Distance from major transit stop Less than 0.5 miles:At least 0.5 miles, but less than 1 mile: Minimum off-street parking required No minimum 0.5 per unit Maximum allowed 1 space per unit 1.5 per unit Off-street parking requirements near transit hurt San Leandro by: 1.Increasing the cost of housing for low-income families as well as for the middle class.Garage parking typically costs $20-30,000 per space (or more) to build. Current RM parking requirements averaging about 2.5 spaces per unit effectively mean a building must dedicate as much floor area for cars as it does for people. Most often, as the city found in its site analysis, they mean nothing gets built at all. Cities that have reduced their parking requirements have seen more affordable and mixed-income housing built*. 2. Increasing car ownership, congestion, and carbon emissions.Free off-street parking is a subsidy to car use. Studies show after similar people move to a home with off-street parking versus one without, they are more likely to buy a car, or to buy a second car, or to use their cars more. After all, they have free storage. This increases car emissions and further clogs our streets - it even increases how many people park on the curb. 3. Preventing the development of a walkable city.When half the city is devoted to parking, the parking pushes everything in the city farther apart: small businesses can't rely on foot traffic. And when seniors can no longer drive, the city suddenly becomes unlivable to them. 175