Parking minimums are costing your city. For a way forward, look to Edmonton.

Back in June, the city council of Edmonton, Alberta voted unanimously to drop its minimum parking requirements. It was the first major Canadian city to do so. In a subsequent news release, Kim Petrin, development services branch manager for the City of Edmonton said, “Parking is a powerful, but often hidden force that shapes how our communities are designed and influences every aspect of how people live, work and move around.” We at Strong Towns couldn’t agree more: land is a finite, valuable resource, and minimum parking requirements saddle North American towns and cities with unproductive, empty parking spaces. Land that could be an engine for prosperity and well-being instead becomes a costly burden on homeowners, small businesses, and taxpayers.

Towns and cities exploring parking reforms are now rightly looking to Edmonton’s example; there is much to learn there. To hear more about how Edmonton got to the point of abolishing parking minimums altogether, and to get an update on what has happened since the new rules went into effect on July 2—was it parking chaos?—I spoke recently with Ashley Salvador. In May, Salvador wrote an article for us about the upcoming vote. With Travis Fong, she is the cofounder of YEGarden Suites, a nonprofit that helps homeowners in Alberta who want to build accessory dwelling units. (Accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, are also called laneway homes, granny flats, carriage houses, and, in Edmonton, garden suites.) YEGarden Suites was a key partner in the collaborative effort to end parking minimums.

(Editor’s Note: On November 17, Ashley Salvador, Travis Fong, and Anne Stevenson will be presenting a free webcast on how to get rid of parking minimums in your city. You can secure your spot here.)