Vancouver Developers Re-Thinking Parking in the Age of Transit-Oriented Development - Storeys
By Howard Chai
When the Province introduced Bill 47 in Fall 2023, officially known as the Housing Statutes (Transit-Oriented Areas) Amendment Act, what drew most of the attention were the minimum heights and densities that the legislation set for areas immediately surrounding SkyTrain stations and major bus loops.
Over a year later, local governments have implemented the legislation, but many are still trying to figure out the fine details, such as whether there should be any housing requirements attached to the densities.
What has flown under the radar and has already changed how developers operate is Bill 47's requirement that municipalities remove minimum parking requirements in those TOAs. Minimum parking requirements are typically expressed as a ratio between the amount of parking stalls required per residential unit — a ratio of 0.5 means one parking stall for every two units, for example.
Housing advocates have long pushed for such requirements to be eliminated, both because it encourages more use of public transit and because it contributes to housing development. Last month, the Sightline Institute published a report concluding that parking reform alone can boost homebuilding by 40% to 70%.
