A coalition formed in August is pressing Houston City Council to drop the minimum parking requirements the city imposes on new development, the Houston Press reported Thursday, October 8. Kingwood sits inside Houston city limits, so a citywide change to the parking ordinance would apply to new commercial and multifamily projects here.
What the coalition wants
The Houston Parking Reform Coalition wants council to eliminate parking minimums, which currently set a required number of spaces based on unit count for multifamily housing and on square footage for commercial projects. Members named in the report include labor and employment attorney Ruben Garza, who belongs to Strong Towns Houston, along with Air Alliance Houston, Friends of Columbia Tap, LINK Houston, Friends of the Boulevard and A Tale of Two Bridges. The group held a Park(ing) Day event at The Plant in Houston’s East End on October 3.
Garza told the Houston Press that an above ground parking garage costs about $52,000 per space and that renters pay an average of $200 to $500 a month for parking. The coalition says more than 5,000 acres of Houston land, which it values at $3.6 billion, sits under surface parking lots, including 205 acres in Greater Heights, 169 acres in the East End and 168 acres downtown.
Where it stands at City Hall
Nothing has been filed. Council members Sallie Alcorn, Mario Castillo, Joe Panzarella and Alejandra Salinas have expressed interest in bringing the subject forward through what the report describes as a Proposition A resolution, a mechanism that lets three or more council members place an item on an agenda without the mayor’s approval. Panzarella, elected in a special election in May, has pointed to a bar parking ratio of 14 spaces per 1,000 square feet as among the highest in the country, and has floated eliminating minimums, expanding metered off street parking and creating parking benefit districts.
Joshua Sanders, Mayor John Whitmire’s director of intergovernmental relations, confirmed to the Houston Press that he met with Garza and said nothing had yet been presented to the administration. Garza said he is cautiously optimistic an item could come up later in October and that otherwise it would likely slip to early 2027, and that some more conservative council members want to see the mayor’s position first.
What the city has already done
Council removed parking minimums in the central business district in 1989 and extended the exempt area to East Downtown and Midtown in 2019. The Houston Press report says more than 100 U.S. cities have eliminated minimum parking requirements, and notes that Austin and Dallas have seen concerns raised about vehicles spilling into neighborhoods, which Garza argues is a parking management question rather than a supply question.
