PRESENTER: Presenter
Christopher J. Looney, AICP, Planning and Development Services Director
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SUBJECT: Title
Public hearing and first reading of an ordinance amending Chapter 144 regarding parking requirements
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DEPARTMENT: Planning and Development Services
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COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: All
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Case No. ORD24-250
Applicant: City of New Braunfels
550 Landa Street
New Braunfels, TX 78130
Staff Contact: Matt Greene
(830) 221-4053 | mgreene@newbraunfels.gov
The amount of on-site parking necessary for the success of a business is not often in concert with a city’s parking tables. As part of the Land Development Ordinance (LDO), City Council directed staff to examine New Braunfels’ current parking requirements and recommend a more market-driven, demand-based approach to minimum parking ratios. The proposed amendments reflect current national and state trends, are more contemplative of current shopping and travel habits of Americans, and would be in accordance with Envision New Braunfels, the New Braunfels Strategic Plan, the LDO Assessment Report, and the Land Use Fiscal Analysis.
ISSUE:
Multiple factors related to the growth and development of the city have led to the consideration of revisions to the current parking standards. Many cities, including New Braunfels, have had minimum parking requirements for all uses that predate online shopping and services. Societal shifts have resulted in a reduction in parking demand for many uses. There is a growing national trend that advocates for reducing city-imposed minimum parking requirements.
In August of this year, staff took a proposed ordinance amendment to the Planning Commission for a recommendation to City Council that would have removed the requirement for minimum parking spaces for most land uses. The Planning Commission recommended approval (7-0-0, with Commissioners Allen and Chafin absent). At the Special Meeting on September 16, 2024, City Council directed staff to adjust the proposal by reducing the number of parking spaces required but not eliminate the requirements all together. Council direction also included several specific recommendations which are included in the attached proposed ordinance.
Benefits to lower minimum parking requirements include but are not limited to:
• Making parking tables more consistent with numbers required for a use’s success.
• Opportunities for more green space, landscaping, and tree canopy with the reduction in size of parking lots; reducing urban sprawl and heat island effects.
• Improving stormwater offsets and water quality challenges that often result from unnecessarily large impervious surfaces.
• Opportunities for more buildable area increasing properties’ economic potential and usefulness particularly considering the status of New Braunfels current build-out (urban sprawl reduction).
• Reducing obstacles to walkability, ADA accessibility and overall pedestrian movement throughout the city.
• Removing an additional barrier to affordable housing by creating more space to build housing rather than to build extra required parking.
• Encouraging future development and redevelopment to focus more on small walkable/bike-able blocks creating more mixed-use “complete” neighborhoods.
A Land Use Fiscal Analysis (LUFA) was recently conducted for the city, which recommends the city’s current codes and approach to development should be revised to allow more infill, redevelopment, and mixed-use development. The standards should be improved to ensure it is efficient and cost-effective for developers to build infill and compact development that produces the highest returns on investment for more efficient service delivery; and that ensures the city has a diverse mix of housing that will be attractive and affordable to residents. Lessening key requirements where they can be identified as being unnecessarily high is one avenue to accomplish the LUFA recommendations.
To develop the attached recommended ordinance, staff examined the initial LDO drafts prepared by the consultant and reviewed and compared against parking requirements of several Texas cities. Staff also noted unique New Braunfels uses and situations that have brought about parking concerns in the past (e.g. amphitheaters, medical offices, tubing outfitters, etc.) and proposed revisions accordingly.
Per direction from City Council, the recommended ordinance also includes:
• The removal of the current disallowance on using a home’s garage to count toward the minimum parking requirements for short-term rentals;
• Increasing the maximum distance for off-site parking agreements from 800 linear feet to the commonly accepted one-quarter of a mile (1,320 linear feet - a.k.a. “pedestrian shed”);
• Incentives for adding bicycle parking facilities.
To minimize redundancy, the parking standards listed for each use in the zoning district descriptions are recommended for deletion as these minimum parking requirements are identified in the parking table in Section 5.1-3.
Most of New Braunfels’ Special Districts refer to Section 144.51 of the city’s Zoning Ordinance for minimum parking requirements. However, Special Neighborhood District-1 (SND-1), the Walnut Neighborhood Special District (WNSD), and the Advantage Drive Special District (ADSD) all have defined parking standards. There are no proposed modifications to these latter district standards at this time. However, if City Council chooses to reduce the parking requirements of these Special Districts, they can be included in the amendment as well.
Unrelated to parking, the amendments include a use name change from “tube rentals” to “river outfitters”, which would capture the rental of tubes as well as stand-up paddle boards (SUPs), kayaks, rafts, and similar recreational flotation devices. This term better reflects the current industry, and is an update already included in the drafts of the LDO.
Finally, it is important to note two additional things:
1. The LDO will propose recommendations for maximum parking requirements, particularly over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. This amendment does not address maximum parking, only the issues associated with minimum parking requirements.
2. The recommended ordinance retains the existing parking table’s use names. Staff does not propose edits to these yet in order to maintain consistency with the existing Use Matrix and Definitions of Terms. When the LDO is adopted, the table will be revised to consolidate similar uses and achieve consistency with the new LDO Use Matrix and new definitions.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN REFERENCE:
• Action 1.3: Encourage balanced and fiscally responsible land use patterns.
• Action 1.5: Promote economic centers by ensuring adequate parking for people to visit businesses/restaurants/shops.
• Action 1.6: Incentivize infill development and redevelopment to take advantage of existing infrastructure.
• Action 1.11: Update policies and codes to achieve development patterns that implement the goals of this plan.
• Action 2.33: Encourage vertical growth and development of key areas to take advantage of infrastructure capacity, maintain the core, and to discourage sprawl.
• Action 3.6: Pro-actively provide a regulatory environment that remains business and resident friendly.
• Action 3.10: Change zoning/land use and platting rules and create tax and permit fee incentives in underutilized neighborhoods, nodes, and corridors to encourage redevelopment.
• Action 3.19: Improve walkability across town to attract younger generations seeking pedestrian connections.
• Action 3.31: Adopt policies and ordinances supportive of workforce housing, creating opportunities that make investment in workforce housing more feasible for private and nonprofit developers.
• Action 5.6: Implement measures to achieve and maintain a high National Flood Insurance Program CRS rating to ensure the safety of all residents and to reduce property owner flood insurance rates.
• Action 7.8: Enhance pedestrian quality of the City by limiting the realm of the automobile.
STRATEGIC PLAN REFERENCE:
☒Economic Mobility ☐Enhanced Connectivity ☒Community Identity
☐Organizational Excellence ☐Community Well-Being ☐N/A
• Objective: Incentivize mixed-use developments and redevelopments in targeted locations to create a built environment with integrated housing, commercial centers, and opportunities for improved connectivity.
• Objective: Develop capital and staffing investments that improve safety, reduce heat islands, and encourage transportation modes that support healthier lifestyles and exercise such as biking, walking and running.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Reducing the minimum parking requirements for most uses will allow more flexibility for development and redevelopment, making it possible to increase the sales and property tax base and enhance return on investment as recommended in the Land Use Fiscal Analysis.
Recommendation
RECOMMENDATION:
Approval. In addition to all of the benefits noted above, strategic parking ratio revisions would modernize computations, bring the parking tables more in-line with what uses need to be successful, simplify requirements, streamline plan review, and be in accordance with Envision New Braunfels, the New Braunfels Strategic Plan, the LDO Assessment Report, and the Land Use Fiscal Analysis - all while still allowing opportunities for regulatory incentives.
Resource Links:
• Chapter 144, Section 3.3 Zoning Districts and Regulations for Property Zoned Prior to June 22, 1987; Section 3.4 Zoning Districts and Regulations for Property Zoned Subsequent to June 22, 1987; Section 5.1, Parking, Loading, Stacking and Vehicular Circulation; Section 5.6 Bed and Breakfasts; and Section 5.17 Short Term Rental or Occupancy of the City’s Code of Ordinances: <https://library.municode.com/tx/new_braunfels/codes/code_of_ordinances>