St. Pete weighs expansion of resident-only parking zones

As St. Petersburg continues embracing denser, transit-oriented development, city leaders are now preparing to address one of the most common neighborhood complaints that growth has produced: overflow parking.

On Thursday, City Council will hold the first reading of a proposed ordinance that would significantly expand the city’s ability to create Neighborhood Resident Only Parking Areas (NROPAs) in neighborhoods experiencing spillover parking from nearby commercial corridors, entertainment districts and redevelopment.

The ordinance would amend existing city parking rules and create a formal petition and review process for future resident-only parking zones.

While resident permit parking already exists in parts of downtown and Old Northeast, the proposal would broaden the framework citywide as redevelopment pressures continue spreading outward from the urban core.

The issue has become increasingly relevant as St. Pete simultaneously pushes policies designed to encourage density and reduce dependence on personal vehicles.

Just weeks ago, City Council unanimously voted to eliminate parking minimums for new developments along the SunRunner corridor, allowing developers to determine how much parking to provide for apartments, mixed-use projects and businesses built near transit.

Supporters of that move argued parking mandates inflate housing costs and discourage transit-oriented development. Critics warned surrounding neighborhoods could absorb overflow parking from denser projects built with fewer spaces.

“We are concerned about the impact in our neighborhood based on the reduction or elimination of parking,” Historic Kenwood Neighborhood Association President Nicholas Igneri said during public comment at the time.

The new resident-only parking proposal appears aimed, at least in part, at addressing those growing tensions, though City Council officially added it to the docket April 9, before they had voted on eliminating parking minimums for new developments.

District 6 City Council member Gina Driscoll told the Catalyst that “a balance can be struck” between residential parking permits and no-minimum parking developments.

Under the ordinance, neighborhoods could petition the city to establish resident-only parking districts if they can demonstrate significant intrusion from nonresident vehicles. Like traffic calming requests, the process would require support from two-thirds of affected residents before moving forward.

If a petition succeeds, the city would then conduct a parking study to determine whether the area is experiencing substantial overflow parking.

“The city will need to handle neighborhood residential parking permits based on each area,” said Driscoll. “We went through this with the Old Northeast Neighborhood when spillover parking from downtown was happening there.”

The ordinance establishes specific thresholds for eligibility. Areas would need to show parking occupancy exceeding 75%, with at least 25% of vehicles belonging to nonresidents.

If those standards are met, City Council could then approve a resident-only parking district through the ordinance process.

The proposal also raises annual residential parking permit fees from $15 to $30.

The city’s original residential permit parking ordinance dates back to 1992, and focused primarily on protecting downtown residents from commercial overflow parking between 5th Avenue North and 5th Avenue South.

As downtown development intensified westward over the years, the city expanded those protections through additional zones stretching toward 22nd Street. As Driscoll referenced, in 2018 and 2019, the city created and expanded permit parking in Old Northeast after residents complained about downtown spillover parking entering residential streets.

But overflow parking is no longer just a downtown issue. Commercial corridors throughout St. Pete have continued expanding while redevelopment accelerates along transit routes like Central Avenue and the SunRunner corridor, which has placed the city’s urbanist planning goals into contention with neighborhood concerns about strain and character.

City leaders have spent years encouraging denser development patterns through policies supporting accessory dwelling units, mixed-use redevelopment and transit-oriented growth.

District 1 Council Member Copley Gerdes previously argued those policies are intended to spread growth more evenly throughout the city instead of concentrating it solely near downtown.

“If Grand Central was the only place we were going to have this mixed-use retail and residential, then that concern is true,” Gerdes told the Catalyst. “But the changes we are making will spread this out westward.”

Thursday will only be the ordinance’s first reading. If advanced, City Council is expected to hold a second reading and public hearing June 11.

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