MEDIA CONTACT: Catie Gould, Sightline Institute, catie@sightline.org
OLYMPIA, WA – Washington’s Parking Reform and Modernization Act, SB 5184, has a hearing in the House Committee on Local Government at 10:30 AM on Friday, March 14.
The bill—introduced by Senator Jessica Bateman and approved by the state Senate in a 40-8 bipartisan vote on February 19—would cap how many parking spots local governments can mandate for new housing and commercial buildings.
The bill is supported by a coalition of over 40 Washington groups, including affordable housing providers, labor unions, environmental groups, elected officials, real estate associations, and others.
Mandates that force overbuilt parking bloat home prices and rents at a time when Washingtonians can least afford it, and they worsen the statewide housing shortage, according to research from regional think tank Sightline Institute. The legislation would:
- Cap parking mandates for new residential buildings. No more than 0.5 parking spaces required per home, which rounds to 1 per single-detached house while allowing some multifamily building residents—who own fewer or no cars—to forgo paying for parking they won’t use.
- Cap commercial mandates to provide relief for businesses. Parking mandates are a tax on businesses that limit opportunities for new establishments, expansions of successful businesses, conversions of historic buildings, and other uses. The bill would limit commercial mandates to 1 parking space per 1,000 square feet, meaning local rules couldn’t force businesses to allot 1/3 of their floorspace to parking (the average parking space is 330 sq ft).
- Provide full parking flexibility for certain building types. SB 5184 exempts select building uses from mandates, including buildings undergoing a change of use (like from an office to a coffee shop), senior housing, affordable housing, daycares, facilities that serve alcohol, and commercial spaces in mixed-use buildings.
- Potentially add more ADA accessible parking spaces. An amendment directs the state building code council to study and, if needed, update parking requirements to better align with current disability rates.
Under amendments adopted on February 19, the bill would apply statewide to cities with a population over 20,000 (86 percent of cities and towns) with possible exemptions for sub-standard county roads.
The bill does not place any limits whatsoever how much parking any homebuilder or business can include in their project if they wish to do so. It simply returns that decision-making power to those people who know their projects and customers best: the builders and business owners themselves.
Catie Gould, senior transportation researcher for Sightline Institute, is available to comment on her research and on details of the state legislation.
Read the statewide report: The state of parking mandates in Washington
Related:
Five other housing cost bills that we’re watching have already scheduled committee hearings in the opposite chamber.
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Catie Gould is a senior transportation researcher for Sightline Institute, specializing in parking policy. Find her latest research here, and follow her on Bluesky.
Sightline Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank providing leading original analysis of housing, democracy, energy, and forests policy in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, British Columbia, and beyond.
