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City Faces Curbside Parking Chaos Committee of 100 Asks Mayor, Mendelson and Cheh to Intervene

The Committee of 100 (C100) has asked Mayor Gray, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Councilmember Mary Cheh to stop the DC Zoning Commission from further consideration of the Office of Planning’s (OP) “one-size-fits-all” parking regulations that are at odds with recommendations recently released in the District Department of Transportation’s (DDOT) detailed and thoughtful Curbside Management Study. (Chairman Mendelson has oversight over zoning and planning and Councilmember Cheh oversees transportation.)

“The Zoning Commission is poised to enact regulations that fail to acknowledge the diversity of community needs within the city. OP’s one-size-fits-all regulations will create additional demand and stress on curbside parking and loading and overwhelm DDOT, its sister District Government agency,” said Nancy MacWood, Chair of C100.

The DDOT Study emphasizes the consensus among commercial establishments that curbside loading zones are too small and too few, and that there is need for more commercial parking. On the other hand, the Zoning Commission, following OP’s proposals, may reduce off-street loading bay sizes and numbers, reduce off-street commercial parking and exempt private development from meeting the increased loading and parking demands they are creating.

The request for intervention also suggests that further study is needed to answer several questions:
• What is the supply of private parking by types of buildings?
• How will population growth affect the auto and truck ownership and the total number of vehicles?
• How are private parking and loading zones linked to efficient and effective curbside management?

“Parking regulation and enforcement is already complicated and contentious,” said MacWood. “DDOT’s Study begins to tackle the problem constructively. The Zoning Commission needs to apply a similar approach to parking policies under its jurisdiction. We urge the Mayor, Chairman Mendelson and Councilmember Cheh to request that the Zoning Commission postpone any action on OP’s parking ideas until OP and DDOT have developed a comprehensive curbside parking and loading plan.”
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