It’s a move rooted in common sense, and long overdue.
For decades, city codes required developers to build a minimum number of parking spots, regardless of whether future residents or businesses needed them. These mandates weren’t just arbitrary—they were costly. Estimates suggest each parking spot can add $28,000 to $56,000 to a project’s price tag, costs that inevitably get passed along to tenants and homeowners.
Parking mandates have been a quiet killer of affordability, limiting the types of housing that can be built and raising costs for everyone. In a housing market already strained, that’s the last thing cities should be doing.
As D Magazine reported, the Dallas City Plan Commission voted earlier this year to recommend the change, citing how outdated requirements were choking development. Staff analysis backed them up: blanket mandates don’t make sense in a diverse city with different neighborhoods, incomes, and transit access.
Even the Dallas Morning News noted that dropping parking minimums can help developers build more homes, restaurants, and shops that serve people rather than vehicles. And Dallas isn’t going it alone. In fact, it’s a little late to the game.
Other Texas cities—Austin, Bastrop, Bandera and Taylor—have already repealed their mandates. Nationwide, over 3,000 cities have taken similar action, according to the Parking Reform Network.
This trend reflects a growing realization: when you require parking, you get cars. When you reduce the mandates, you get homes, walkable neighborhoods, and human-scaled development.
That’s not to say every development will do away with parking. But it’s a question of choice. If developers believe their tenants want it, they’ll build it. If not, they won’t. Let the market respond to actual demand, not government-imposed formulas based on outdated assumptions.
We’ve seen how costly and self-defeating zoning mandates can be. Dallas shows us another way forward. Cities can grow without pushing people out. They can embrace change without breaking the bank.
Sometimes, doing less—like getting rid of parking minimums—is exactly the kind of leadership cities need.
