The parking paradox in downtown St. Pete

Parking in St. Peterburg presents somewhat of a conundrum to city officials, as they must balance rapid growth with walkability and a desire to create more space for affordable housing.

Thursday morning, members of city council, acting as the Public Services and Infrastructure Committee, discussed reductions in parking requirements for multi-family dwellings located in and around downtown. However, much of the discourse also covered congestion emanating from the Pier District.

Committee Chair Ed Montanari asked for the update and stated that he ran for office to protect and preserve St. Petersburg’s quality of life and promote business in the city.

“And to me, this parking issue kind of covers both of those issues.”

Liz Abernethy, director of planning and development services, began her presentation by explaining the city’s reduction in parking requirements in recent years. A 2019 ordinance stipulated that downtown units less than 750 square feet do not require parking spaces.

The ordinance also allowed for a 10% reduction in spaces for certified affordable and workforce housing units and those within 1/8 of mile of a high-frequency transit route. City Administrator Rob Gerdes told the committee that developers were taking advantage of those allowances.

According to county documents, the parking decrease provides several benefits, including promoting walkability and offering a cost-saving incentive for developers to provide additional dwellings.

“When parking spots – the last number I heard was $34,000 a spot to build – you got to figure out a different answer than adding parking spots,” said Councilmember Copley Gerdes. “I don’t think anyone wants to be in the building parking spot business out in the city at $34,000 a clip. We’ve got to come up with other answers.”

Abernethy said the city was unsure if the market would take advantage of the “zero-parking” allowance in 2019. She called it a novel idea and relayed that most of the projects at the time provided more than the required number of spaces.

Currently, five projects with no parking and four that offer less than one space per unit have received city approval or are “in the queue.” Those represent 17% of the city’s planned developments, said Abernethy, but just 6% of the total units.

“So, when you break that down to how many units are coming online that have no parking, it’s really a fairly minimal number,” she said. “None of the projects have started construction yet.”

However, Abernethy did note that city officials are seeing more people without vehicles moving into downtown. She called it a generational shift, represented by “both ends of the generational spectrum.”

The code change also reduced parking requirements for small downtown businesses, including cafes, restaurants and microbreweries, by 50%. Abernethy said that elsewhere in St. Petersburg, the city caps offsite parking at a radius of 300 feet from the establishment. The ordinance increased that area to 1,000 feet downtown.

“People are used to walking three blocks in downtown,” she added.

A row of cars park along a congested Central Avenue in the Edge District.

Councilmember Gina Driscoll noted that four projects with zero or less than one parking space per unit were around the Edge District. She said people without a car would not have access to residential parking permits or guest passes, the city restricts on-street parking to two hours and the area is not close to a public parking garage.

Driscoll asked what would happen when a resident’s mom visits for the weekend.

Keith Glasgow, parking division manager, said the popular residential parking program is near capacity, and extending it to people without vehicles would exacerbate the issue.

“I’m bringing this up because there doesn’t seem to be an easy solution for this,” said Driscoll. “So, I think we’ve got some work to do on just really practical solutions for some of these everyday challenges.”

Montanari said he is concerned that amid explosive growth, city officials “will take their eye off the ball” and allow parking issues to create other problems. He said a lack of spaces could reduce residents’ quality of life and create economic issues when people cannot find a place to park for work or leisure.

The committee chair added that he sees a problem with parking and congestion at The Pier on the weekends, which then impacts businesses along Beach Drive.

Glasgow replied that he has never felt there was enough parking for the 26-acre Pier District, which recently received one of the Urban Land Institute’s 2022 Americas Awards for Excellence.

City officials, said Glasgow, did not realize how popular the Pier would become before it opened. However, now in its second year of operation, he is seeing a reduction in the number of daily lot closures due to reaching capacity, and hopes markers directing people to park at the Sundial and adjacent garages are mitigating the need for more spaces.

“When The Pier gets oversaturated is when we will have a major event at Vinoy Park,” said Glasgow. “And sometimes the Pier is the first place that people go to park, which takes up all the parking for everyone else, and then it starts in the outlying areas. I can tell you in the last few events since the pandemic – we haven’t really filled up our parking garages for any of these major events.”

Glasgow said people could park elsewhere and take the Downtown Looper trolleys or e-scooters to the Pier.

Councilmember Deborah Figgs-Sanders wondered if the decrease in parking lot closures was due to more people walking or becoming frustrated at the lack of space and congestion downtown and steering clear of the area. She also expressed concern for those working at or near The Pier.

“Because parking – I just don’t know any other way to say it – it’s just horrible down there,” said Figgs-Sanders. “I can’t see it getting any better unless we are a little more creative in the development and planning process.”