e The need for overnight parking was not a constant, but rather a transient issue experienced
primarily around the holidays when family from outside the city came to visit for several days.
During these times, the ability to park on the street would help alleviate demand for the limited
capacity contained within the resident's existing driveway, garage, and/or lot.
Those individuals living in the same wards who opposed any change to policy noted the concerns about
roadway width and geometrics and impacts on snow removal, street maintenance and trash collection
noted previously. In addition, these individuals submitted the following arguments:
e Zoning regulations are intended to assure adequate provision of parking to support any land use
and/or change in use of an existing building. If there is a problem with parking adequacy for a
particular property, it should be incumbent on the property owner or developer to provide
adequate capacity in an off-street facility.
e Opening up overnight parking at the curb does not guarantee the space(s) in front of an
individual’s house will be set aside for their exclusive use. The possibility does exist under such a
program that a stranger could be parked in front of your house overnight.
e The City already provides overnight parking options in their off-street facilities for those who have
a need.
e There may not be adequate capacity on public streets in some areas to accommodate all the
individuals seeking parking.
e Along some streets, there are no sidewalks, so pedestrians and bicyclists use the edge of the
roadway for travel. Parking vehicles on these streets overnight would force these individuals into
traffic during the morning hours when many residents run, jog, walk, etc.
As a general rule, all parties agreed that any change in policy could only occur within a structured
framework that required participants register their vehicles with the City and abide by a uniform set of
regulations (e.g., a permit program). By the same token, the majority of participants indicated they would
only support a program which was offered at no- or low-cost to participants, arguing that residents already
pay substantial property taxes.
BASIC PRINCIPLES AND BEST PRACTICES
The number of municipalities which offer unrestricted access to and use of curbside parking is dwindling
across the United States as towns and cities continue to grow and densify. This is a natural response to
increasing competition for a limited resource or public good. As first documented by British economist
William Forster Lloyd in 1833, any unregulated public resource unhampered by formal rules governing
access and use may become depleted when individual uses act in their own self-interest, rather than the
common good; this is known in the fields of economics, psychology, anthropology, sociology and urban
planning as ‘the tragedy of the commons’.
In the context of urban planning and municipal management, curbside parking is a public good provided
for the benefit of all constituents within a community, including residents, visitors, merchants, patrons,
workers, and others conducting themselves within that community. Curbside parking is, by its very
definition, a limited resource as only so many vehicles can be accommodated along public streets within
a defined area and, as often is the case, the land uses occupying that area generate parking demand in
excess of the parking capacity contained therein. Even when there is ample off-street parking within an
