P is for Parking—and with Bend’s explosive growth, Bendites should be prepared to spend a lot more time talking about it in the months and years to come. The conversations that are already emerging about this topic include ones covering whether we should have to pay for it, how to pay for it, where it exists, where it doesn’t and also how much of it should be included when building new homes and businesses in the city—because as much as some of us wished that Bend could remain a tiny burg with some great views and quaint customs, the most recent U.S. Census is putting us at the size of a full-fledged city, complete with all the rights, responsibilities and headaches that come with it.
For those not yet in the know, we’ll supply a quick rundown of some of the parking considerations currently on the table in Bend. Inside the Bend City Council’s (endlessly virtual) chambers, councilors are, among other considerations, debating whether to change city code so as to relax the requirements for the number of parking spaces included on new home construction. The current code requires every home to have a minimum number of parking spaces. Affordable housing advocates say that setting aside valuable real estate for parking spots drives up the cost of housing. In theory, we’d tend to agree—except that over time, we’ve seen a myriad of theories thrown out in hopes of fostering affordable housing, which never seem to result in lowered prices, or an easing of our housing crunch. Were the proposed changes to actually result in more housing for lower- or middle-income households, we’d support it wholeheartedly. Whether that’s actually a reality is another story.
Meanwhile, councilors have recently opted to extend the life of the “parklets” that are taking up parking spots in downtown Bend, in order to give restaurants more outdoor space during the ongoing time of coronavirus restrictions. While we support this idea, rather than a scattershot approach to sidewalk-café culture, we’d rather see a real plan put in place to entirely “pedestrianize” one or more streets of downtown. A pro to this: More actual feet on the street right in front of downtown businesses. A con: We’ll have to abandon our very American mindset that parking directly in front of a business is the only way to get bodies in the door. As one commenter on our website pointed out, you can park directly in front of a Walmart too—but you’ll walk farther to get to the back of that store than you’d be likely to walk across the entire span of a pedestrianized zone in downtown Bend.
What should also be on Bendites’ radars is the Old Town parking overlay zone, begun as a pilot program during the pandemic and miraculously deemed a “success” when everyone was quarantined and all park events were canceled. We would like to see a more robust community conversation examining what it means to keep eastsiders, northsiders, and southsiders out of our more desirable neighborhoods…or at least ask them to pay dearly to visit.
Meanwhile, there’s another way to ease parking woes: To not be part of the woes at all. While not feasible for everyone, Bend is making some major investments in multi-modal transportation that make it easier and safer not to drive a car at all to get around. How many times have you driven to downtown from close by, circled around looking for parking and then complained about all the cars in your way? You’re one of the cars. You don’t have to be. Whether by biking or walking or taking a rideshare car, you already have options that don’t involve circling around getting frustrated.
Bend is not becoming a city; it already is one. Whether we like it or not, that means city-like parking concerns, and a requirement by all of us to think beyond the status quo and to consider supporting plans and codes and approaches that prioritize people over cars. As Bend grows, we have the ability to plan our city less around the cars that get us places, and more around the people who occupy them in myriad ways. If P is for Parking, prepare to talk a lot more about it in the years to come.
This article appears in Apr 14-21, 2021.
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Bend is not a city in the traditional sense of having a cultural core. It is a suburb gateway to the great outdoors. Public transportation is mediocre at best and only serves major arterials. Cars are necessary to access most places. Walking and biking are not a solution for the older population or during winter for anyone. Eliminating minimum parking requirements for new developments will only enrich developers. Housing prices are determined by the market, not the presence or absence of parking places. Only 5 percent of Bend households do not own cars so it doesn’t make sense for the tail to wag the dog.
We’re already changing the parking system in the multi-story and the lots down by Drake Park, charging every hour now and no more free parking – while that does not help those that work downtown, and yet another parking app to download, I agree with the comment above. Until we get a much better public transportation system, any parking woes will not disappear, period.
“we’ve seen a myriad of theories thrown out in hopes of fostering affordable housing, which never seem to result in lowered prices, or an easing of our housing crunch”
What this ignores is that it’s quite likely that our housing crisis would be *much worse* without those measures in place.
If we free people from government car storage mandates, it’s not going to make Bend suddenly affordable, especially for the ‘average person’ who probably does own a car and wants a spot to put it. This reform will help with the low end.
Also worth noting: Bend did not have these requirements imposed until after WWII, and the part of town built before then is just fine in terms of the amount of car storage space. Indeed, it’s a very expensive bit of town to live in.
Follow the money: less mandated parking results in smaller lots which increase density (more lots per acre); more lots per acre results in more profit for developers and more revenue for government.
While many look to alleviate the parking issue with mass transit, bikes, and other laudable efforts, cars will be a problem for many years to come. Some ideas need to be discussed that have been ignored too long:
We hear about infill for housing, how about infill for parking? Parking structures utilize valuable property more efficiently than parking lots, putting more cars per square foot on land which is increasing in value every year. Structures could be designed to include exterior areas with terraced gardens, and roof coverings of solar panels.
Making downtown Bend a pedestrian only area would certainly improve the appeal. That may be too extreme for most, but at least remove one side of angle parking and widen the sidewalks. Restaurant tables now take up walking space and a stroll is now an obstacle course.
Snow, anyone? Clearing streets and parking areas and sidewalks is never adequately done in Bend. Include in planning enough space to pile snow. And include ways of dealing with the big, extra long trucks that should be required to park in special areas.
Revenue: Parking structures could be revenue generating. As all parking could be, for Bend or for private enterprises. But please consider that not everyone has the latest smart phone that can utilize parking apps. Please provide a way for anyone to pay for parking, and keep signage updated with whatever the latest regulations are.
We need to have a robust community dialogue on parking. Decisions should be based on local data that accurately describes the parking need and the parking supply. The public needs to know that potential Council decisions may cause cars to overflow into someone else’s parking lot or into an adjacent residential neighborhood. The Galveston Avenue neighborhood is a perfect example of how the existing parking requirements were insufficient to provide a parking supply that matched the parking need and now, advocates of no minimum off-street parking requirements want to further reduce the provided parking? Let’s deal with facts and not follow trends with little or no evidence of achieving the benefits hoped for. The author of this opinion piece is right two points; a) theories don’t always pan out and we absolutely need to have a community conversation. Meanwhile, we need effective solutions for housing that is affordable for all income levels. We need to think outside the box on housing to stop the gentrification of Bend.