The Office of Planning has proposed major changes in the parking
regulations for new construction, eliminating many of the current
minimum parking requirements. Minimum parking requirements have been
used to reduce the impact of parking "spillover" on our
neighborhoods. Even with our current regulations, many DC
neighborhoods already bear significant costs related to spillover
parking from nearby commercial and higher density residential zones.
Spillover parking reduces the availability of parking for residents
and brings an increase in traffic to residential streets.

OP proposes to eliminate all minimum parking requirements for
residential uses. In fact, minimum parking requirements would apply
only for retail, office, service, or restaurant uses in C-2 zones
that are not designated "transit oriented development zones" and for
nonresidential uses in low- or moderate-density residential zones.

In addition, the draft regulations include an unspecified limit on
the amount of off-street parking that developers can provide. These
are radical changes that would set into motion a sweeping citywide
experiment that could potentially have irreversible, adverse impacts
on many neighborhoods across the District. The quality of life in
our neighborhoods is diminished by the increased traffic and reduced
on-street parking. OP's proposal can exacerbate the spillover
parking problems in these neighborhoods and introduce new spillover
parking problems in other neighborhoods.

OP claims to base their proposal on "best practices," and yet can
provide no example of a city that has eliminated minimum parking
requirements on a broad scale. In fact, one of the cities cited in
their "best practices" analysis, Arlington, Virginia, with the same
transportation system, has retained a minimum parking requirement of
at least one space per dwelling unit even near the Metro entrances,
but has reduced the minimum parking requirements for only a very
limited set of uses. Arlington has minimum parking requirements,
even near Metro, for most uses, and many of those minimum parking
requirements exceed DC's current standards.

A hearing before the Zoning Commission on this proposal is scheduled
for July 31 at 6:30 p.m. A copy of the proposed regulations is also
available on the Office of Zoning web site, http://www.dcoz.
dc.gov , and can be found at http://tinyurl. com/4vst3d .

Marilyn Simon
Friendship Heights