Cover Slide:
Too Much Parking?

NOTES;
•	Anecdotal evidence is that there is always parking available at rural and suburban businesses
•	This study provided an empirical response to the question for northwestern Connecticut “is there really too much parking?”

Slide  2:
Study Overview

NOTES:
•	Study funded by the Connecticut Department of Environmental protection and conducted for Northwestern Connecticut Council of Governments and Litchfield Hills Council of Elected Officials
•	Study in two phases
•	Phase 1 – Survey and overview of strategies to reduce impervious surface area
•	Phase 2 – Model zoning tools tailored to northwestern Connecticut

Slide  3:
Study Setting
Litchfield Hills, CT 
NOTES: 
•	Rural Connecticut
•	No unincorporated spaces and no county government
•	160 square miles
•	Largest town has population of 34,000
•	No urban downtowns – each town has village center or town center/small downtown
•	Land use predominantly low density residential – 2 acre per building lot or greater

Slide  4:
Survey Methodology
  
NOTES:
•	Freestanding uses = single use situated independently with its own parking not used by patrons of other businesses
•	Survey goal to be as comprehensive as possible in surveying varied uses within the constraints of study area size, project scope, and budget

Slide  5
Survey Findings

NOTES:
•	The average overall occupancy rate was 47%
•	Highest occupancy rate, on average, was not above 60%
•	Some uses did reach 100% occupancy at one observation. This appeared to be an anomaly explained by special circumstances, such as grand opening of a new restaurant
•	Nursing homes seemed to best match supply of parking with demand – where parking was based on factors in addition to building size such as number of employees
•	Not surprisingly, Big Box retail sites had the lowest occupancy rates. This is of special concern since Big Box retail sites also have the largest impervious parking areas.

Slide 6: 
Survey Conclusions/Observations
     
NOTES:
•	Findings-
o	Zoning requirements are not well matched to demand
o	Total unused pavement among the 42 lots surveyed was 280 acres
o	Many small lots (20 spaces or less) add up to a significant amount of unused pavement when considered cumulatively

Slide 7: 
So…Why are we providing too much
impervious parking?
  
NOTES:
•	Focus on minimums and not consider maximums
•	Design for peak demand that occurs between Thanksgiving and Christmas
•	Requirements are passed from one community to another without empirical analysis of actual local demand
•	Design so patrons perceive there are enough places to park – i.e. the business is not crowded

Slide 8: 
Tools/Strategies

NOTES:
•	A parking plan is a comprehensive look at parking available and long term need 
•	A plan is usually focused on business zones or the central business district or village center
•	It can provide a general plan for location and amount of parking that should be provided over time

Slide 9: 
Zoning Tools to Reduce Impervious
Area
  
NOTES:
•	For water quality objectives there are two basic elements of zoning to manage parking
o	Minimize impervious surface area
o	Manage stormwater runoff

Slide 10: 
Zoning Tools to Manage Stormwater Runoff

NOTES:
•	The overall goal is no-net increase in runoff volumes post development as compared with pre-development conditions
•	Tools:
o	Require green/open space in parking area
o	Use natural drainage systems
o	Pretreat all runoff for contaminants prior to discharge to receiving waters

Slide 11: 
Lessons Learned – Issues Raised
  More research is needed to develop realistic
parking standards for a wide variety of uses

NOTES:
•	Parking standards should consider factors other than building size

Slide 12: 
  Parking demand analyses should be commonly required for most development
applications

Slide 13: 
  How should parking requirements be
tailored to the context

NOTES:
•	Parking demand is context sensitive
•	Zoning requirements should vary in urban/suburban/rural settings to reflect this

Slide 14: 
How can citizen zoning commissions be
educated to best deal with parking
proposals they must evaluate?