The city of Vancouver, British Columbia is removing some of the parking requirements on condo developers. By doing so, the developers are able to reduce the cost of construction enough so that they can drop $55,000 off the price of the units. Read about it here.
I have been railing for a year about the uncoupling of parking costs and other costs in buildings and now its beginning to happen. What it means is that people who live in the city and elect to reduce the number or type of vehicles in their households, can pay less for housing.
Of course the local government is looking at the plan as a "green" one, but that’s ok — call it what you will. The result is that housing costs less and it also proves a point that parking does in fact greatly impact the cost of construction and therefore the cost of rent, housing, office buildings and the like.
Drivers should pay their way, but people should also elect to not pay for parking if they don’t own a car.
JVH
