Residential Parking Minimums

Learn more about Residential Parking Minimums below, or contact Elena Eimert, at eeimert@salem.com, or 978-619-5685.

Local context

At current, Salem’s Zoning Ordinance requires 1.5 parking spaces per dwelling unit in most zones with limited exceptions such as the Municipal or Religious Reuse program, the new Bridge Street Neck Overlay District and there are opportunities to reduce the parking to one space per unit through the inclusionary housing ordinance. The Planned Unit Development special permit, granted by the Planning Board, allows eligible projects to vary from the parking ratio required by the underlying zoning, allowing developers to provide what they believe their residents will use, often relying on a Transportation Impact Assessment to evidence their approach.

why are we looking at parking?

Studying residential parking minimums was one of many strategies identified in the City's Housing Road Map, completed in 2022. This is a timely recommendation, given Boston and Cambridge have both recently revised their parking minimums. Metropolitan Area Planning Council's (MAPC) Perfect Fit Parking study in 2019 showed a roughly 30% vacancy rate of off-street parking spots at apartment buildings within the Inner Core of Metro Boston during peak demand hours. While Salem has a different transportation and development ecosystem than the Inner Core, the timing seems appropriate to investigate this concept, especially given the second Salem Commuter Rail station is on the planning horizon.

How is parking policy a housing strategy?

When we talk about parking minimums, we are talking about trade-offs. When we require more off-street parking than needed, we sacrifice the alternatives that could have utilized the space or costs associated with parking. Mandatory off-street parking is expensive. Per the City's Financial Feasibility Analysis, completed by MAPC in 2023 as part of the Inclusionary Housing ordinance process, it costs $35,000 or more per space for podium parking and $10,000-$15,000 per space for surface parking. Parking requirements significantly increase the cost of housing development and space dedicated to parking means less space available for dwelling units, greenspace, and other amenities. The cost of parking is often also passed onto residents, whether or not they use it, driving up housing costs. Revisiting the Salem's residential parking minimums provides the opportunity for developments to provide more housing units. Given the City's recent adoption of an Inclusionary Housing ordinance, that could result in the production of more affordable housing units.

Check of Smart Growth America’s blog series “Parking Minimums: A Barrier to Smart Growth” here.

Recent Updates:

September 2024 | Staff and volunteers conducted overnight parking counts at selected multifamily developments that offer off-street parking. This data, paired with surveys completed by the property owners, will be analyzed by MAPC to create a clear picture of how much parking is provided versus used at multifamily developments throughout the City. At this time, staff are planning for a Community Conversation in December to share the findings of this research and collect feedback.

August 2024 | Staff have finalized the project scope. Staff are organizing volunteers to assist with parking utilization counts throughout the City, expected to occur in mid-September. Staff concurrently are working on preliminary data collection, including surveys and other outreach to residential developments, between now and the end of summer.

May 2024 - June 2024 | Contract negotiations continue with MAPC. Following advice from MAPC and the City's Traffic and Parking Department, data collection for this effort will be pushed back to September 2024. In the meantime, staff will do pre-work, including surveys directed to operating multifamily housing developments in the City (6 units and above). Staff provided preliminary data to MAPC.

April 2024 | Staff and MAPC discuss the proposal and the City is notified that the TAP application was successful.

January 2024 | The City applied to the Metropolitan Planning Council (MAPC) for its Technical Assistance Program (TAP), with a proposal to study the City’s residential parking minimums.